Oskar Rocks Lake Life

This is easily one of my favorite pictures of him.

I have been neglecting my bloggerly duties!

We have achieved the impossible and the newest addition to our little family is a baby GIRL! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? (For those of you who don't know, there are currently 4 little boys and no girls between our families). As predicted, she was exceptionally difficult during her ultrasound and I need to go back in a couple weeks to get a lot of images that the doctors care about. It was quite clear that it was a girl, which is what I wanted to know. She was literally in a ball the entire time and would not move out of it. While trying to look at her face I said, "Is that her foot?" the answer was yes. Her foot was in her eye. That night, of course, she was having a frickin' party. She remains incredibly active, which is nice, but can be a bit annoying.

We are already struggling with coming up with a name for this girl. It may end up being that the name we choose is simply because neither of us hate it. We have four months though. That might be enough time.

I am feeling much better overall, but I get very tired quite easily. I tried to golf a couple times while up at the cabin last week and even with a cart, the first time I couldn't finish golfing and the second time, I was able to finish all 18 holes with the cart but felt much more tired than I usually would from walking 18. Tomorrow I'm sending the hubbs down to the abyss to find my pregnancy clothes. I can still fit in most my clothes, but there's no reason to be uncomfortable. I still look more portly than pregnant, which is a tough spot to be in. It does change throughout the day though, especially if I've been standing a lot. Then I can look very pregnant come evening.

Can't remember why the tears are happening, but this guy is a master
at manipulating others with his emotions. Watch out.

Dan went to the youth gathering in Detroit a couple weeks ago and let me tell you, it was ROUGH. Like a genius, I decided this was a great time to paint the living room. The room got painted, but this was not a great choice. So much exhaustion.

After his "episode," Oskar asked for toast. Then he asked for more. And again.

After the long week, I was going to try to take Oskar to an event at church that Friday to get out with some different people. However, something in him decided that vomiting was the best response to eating his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or as he called it "Big spit!" The evening went drastically downhill from there. At an EPIC rate. I seriously think that I blocked out the rest of the night from my memory except for what some might call an overreaction to the killing of an earwig. On Saturday we were saved from each other by some friends who came to visit and acted as a WONDERFUL buffer. It was super convenient that they had the same names as 2 of his aunts. Then on Sunday an actual aunt came to visit for a couple hours and just added to the fun. Thank you to you three. You know who you are and your presence was essential to my sanity.

Ice cream gymnast.

At least the run home from ice cream
wore him out!

I thought Oskar would be so happy to see Dan when he got back, but he held a bit of a grudge for a while, which was inconvenient at best, because I needed some time alone. Or at least away from him. I know this sounds terrible, but I doubt I'm alone in understanding this. He has since come around on Dan and the only time he really prefers me is for cuddling in the morning. For like a half hour. This is great because morning is my absolute favorite time of day. Oh wait, it isn't. At least it's nice to have a cuddle buddy. He really is very sweet (when he wants to be).

Fading while watching Phantom

3 minutes later after I moved him to the couch.

Oskar has developed a liking (understatement) of Phantom of the Opera. It has intrigued him for a while and he used to sit and listen calmly to it and if we were lucky it would lull him to sleep. Now, he dances and sings along. It's pretty impressive when he runs around the house singing and we catch little phrases that are quite similar to phrases in the show. But I guess the odds are in favor of this considering today he was singing for about 40 minutes straight. Now, I'm not claiming the video below is phenomenal, but it's pretty darn cute. I could have cut it shorter, but I like his spin moves at the end.

Today, in exasperation I accidentally swore in front of Oskar. He laughed hysterically and then said, "Bless you!" Oh my, it was so sweet.

Because why wouldn't this be in Nisswa?

Not even driving a boat with grandpa while holding
a sponge can get in the way of nap time.

I am doing my best to provide Oskar with a fun summer despite my limited abilities as a human person, especially at the beginning of the summer. This mostly involves spending time with grandparents at the cabin. He loves going up there, even with the 5+ hour drive and each day he gets so worn out that bed time tends to be real easy. He absolutely loves fishing and it is really easy to catch fish off the dock. Someone will pull in a fish and he will say, "Put it right here" and pat a spot on the dock. Then he will laugh as the fish flips around for its life. He knows that the fish is supposed to be in the water though and likes to push the fish back in the water with his finger. Or his foot. Whichever is more convenient.

Even Oskar found this hilarious. Dan caught that fish- it's not bait.

We saw a 2 foot long some kind of fish while pulling into the bay. Saw it a couple times actually.
Despite their best efforts, retrieval of the beast was unsuccessful.

Thanks for reading!

Dan Freaks Out While Ordering Food

We have a Chinese Restaurant in town and apparently it's pretty good (I'm still off Chinese food from the Oskar vomit incident and simply from pregnancy making it not sound good). Dan orders delivery from this restaurant sometimes and knows that they have a $15 delivery minimum. He usually gets the shrimp and garlic sauce dish thing and wonton soup. Well, one day last week he was ordering and it was really hot out and Oskar and I were out of town. Dan had already dialed when he realized that it was to hot for soup. If it were me, I would say and an order of eggrolls or something- he just had to be close to $15. What does Dan order? The Pu Pu Platter for Two. FOR TWO. Did I mention that our microwave broke so re-heating things isn't quite so easy? Goodness. Dan is no longer allowed to make decisions under pressure.

Dan also doesn't quite understand furnishing a living room. I was telling him that I'm going to put up another coat of paint because although we like the color that we inherited, there are parts of the room that are a bit patchy and the cream from the past shows through. There is also some pet hair in the wall that I need to sand out. I made a comment that once this is done we can kind of start settling in and make it look like we've lived here for a year instead of a month. He pointed out that there are toys everywhere and that the commitment required there clearly shows that we've been here for a while. I was just saying that it might be nice to get some of our pictures on the wall maybe get some art up there or something. And I would LOVE to have some new furniture to sit on. To this, Dan responds, "You have a couch, a trampoline and a time-out chair! What more could you want?" We do have a couch- it is breaking and pretty worn out. We have a wooden time-out chair, which is apparently a very valuable chair, but that doesn't mean that it is comfortable for me to sit in. We have a trampoline, which has a 100 lb weight limit. Summary: We have a breaking couch that if we have more than 2 adults in here things get pretty cozy pretty quick. One other thing that bothers me is that we have absolutely stunning end tables, coffee table and entertainment table. I feel like I'm not providing them an appropriate venue to exist. I just want some couches. Maybe a cushy chair.

Anyone need a thousand tiny maple trees?

One week. That is the amount of time it takes me to go from not looking pregnant to looking downright portly. I'm starting to feel a lot better though and I can function as a human adult almost most the time. Baby is kicking away and sometimes when I take a deep breath it feels like something is about to break forth from my stomach. I don't remember this from last time. Pending fetal cooperation we will know the sex of the baby next week. I'm not holding my breath on the cooperation bit- at my previous appointment it took us 5 minutes to find the thing's heartbeat.

We had quite a storm go through here last week. It was VERY windy and it caused quite a few trees to come down around town. We noticed a couple days later that we had a hanging broken branch from one of our giant trees in the back yard. This needed to be dealt with, but as new-ish homeowners we find that again we were lacking the tools and since it was not hurting anything we were just going to let it hang there. Happily nature took care of it and the branch magically fell down while we were in the Twin Cities this past weekend. We were pretty fortunate- a town just about 10 miles NE of us got destroyed. There were a couple days where the weren't letting outsiders enter the town. I only heard of 1 injury though and no fatalities, so we can be happy about that. Our church was a temporary red cross shelter and there were about 30 people who could not occupy their homes. It could have been worse, but it could have been a lot better too. It is simply astonishing that the damage can be so much worse not very far away.

I have been up to the twin cities over the past 3 weekends for various wedding activities. It is not fun driving to the cities right now. Two weekends ago on 35 I went 2 miles in 45 minutes. I was super annoyed because 75% of the cars I saw were from Iowa probably going up to the lakes for the weekend. Hey Iowa, you have your own lake. Go there. This past weekend we traveled on Thursday and came back on Monday so it went much better.

Oskar got some much needed cousin time over the past couple weeks. Whenever he is with his older cousins he is simply insane. He doesn't have much chance playing with boys near his age because daycare is mostly girls. He has a blast with those two. He also got to see his younger cousin. He was so cute with him and seemed to actually listen to his aunt while she watched him for a few hours while we were at a wedding. He even held his hand for a while. So cute. When the little one becomes a little more sturdy I'm sure craziness will ensue when these two get together too.

Oskar Misses his Turn, Attempts to Crack Head Like Egg

Although a valiant effort was made to give his parents a heart attack, Oskar and both elders are recovering nicely after he decided sprinting into a door frame was a good idea. Dan did not respond well to the bulbous crack that appeared almost instantly on his beautiful head. I have learned that I respond better to injury and Dan responds better to illness when concerning Oskar. Oskar, like with every other injury he has gotten, was done crying in 2 minutes and back running around in 4. After consulting a mother and a nurse-friend we were affirmed in our decision to not rush to the doctor and he has been acting normally since the incident on Tuesday. For a time the bump came out about a quarter inch. It was gross and Oskar was not a fan of the idea of icing it to make it go down.

Tuesday was also an extremely warm day in Brandon, on the prairie, with absolutely no wind. Our house stays pretty cool, but it did get pretty hot around here when evening fell. The image below is what made me turn on the air to get us through the night. The chomps is generally a sweaty sleeper, but I couldn't look at that and not do something about it.

Oskar's headboard is finally completed and installed! Thanks to the guidance of the guy who builds all our furniture I was able to turn an old gate into what I believe is a beautiful headboard. 

Before

Installed- I know I've posted about this before, but I'm just so excited that it is finally done.

Potty training is not fun. Oskar won't even sit on his potty anymore. This would be a step backwards. I thought for sure he was ready, but maybe not? No one teaches you how to potty train a child. Thankfully the internet is full of helpful advice. Oh wait... On that note, if you are pregnant for the first time and you have a question do not ask the internet unless it is an incredibly reliable source. DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT READING ANY COMMENTS ON ANY BOARD EVER. Call your mom. Call your mother-in-law, friend, sister, me, whatever. Do not read the comments. Oskar hiccuped throughout his whole gestation. Then I saw a comment that if your child hiccups a lot he/she is likely to be stillborn. I did not believe it, but at 37 weeks pregnant with my first child that is hardly what I needed to hear. Most of my thoughts resonated with Susan's on Friends: This is impossible. It's just impossible. What that woman... did. I am not doing that. It's just gonna have to stay it, that's all, everything will be the same, it'll just stay it. Oh, what do you know? No one's going up to you and saying, "Hi is that your nostril? Mind if we shove this pot roast through it?" Yes, around 37 weeks, that's what I was thinking. No room for stillborn hiccups.

My little stud. I swear he wears clothes almost all the time,
although I will have a hard time proving that.

And here I am again. What was I thinking? 16 weeks as of yesterday and I am still dizzy and can't stand for long without support (usually a shopping cart). I am finally kind of starting to put on weight, but still can't break 140, which is disappointing. I know for many women, 140 is a healthy weight. Please keep in mind that I am probably taller than you and it really isn't a healthy weight for me, especially not pregnant me. I keep thinking the *morning* sickness has passed, but two days ago I was informed I was wrong. Again. Without going into too much detail I will only say that my throat is still recovering from this most recent event. Sadly I must report that I am used to it by now and that it is more annoying than anything else. It still must end. The line must be drawn here! This far, no further!

Those of you who are exceedingly cool (nerdy) know that that line is from Star Trek. I am pleased to report that I have completed watching Deep Space 9 and have made progress into Voyager. The theme song to DS9 nearly killed me every time I heard it. It is what I would provide if someone asked for the saddest Olympic fanfare. Congratulations guys, you made it to the Olympics but let's face it, you won't even qualify for the finals. Here's your participation ribbon, and the world's saddest trumpet playing just for you. In season 4 they put a drumbeat behind it. While I assume the intention was to liven it up a bit, to me it sounded more like Ha! You thought this was the Olympics! You are marching to your doom! And you will do it briskly! I realize this is a lot of opinion about a theme- but when it is 2 minutes long you have a lot of time to think about these things. And yes, I did fast forward through it most the time. When I would press play though, it would often be on the final note which was four measures long. FOUR. And the note should have ended on beat 1, not 4. On the upside, I loved the episode 'Trials and Tribble-ations" because we got to see my favorite creatures again! For the time, I was also way impressed with how well they merged the episode with the one from the original series. I know this paragraph will only be understood by about 1% of the people who may read this, but this is my blog, so there.

Throwback Thursday! Isn't that what the kids are calling it these days?
Oskar was our very own little Tribble for Halloween a couple years ago.
For those who understood, it was fantastic.

We have robins in our lilac again. One baby left the nest today- it was very exciting. I was able to get a couple pictures of them a few days ago. It took a while for the momma to get used to the sound of my camera, but she did. It might have been the camera scaring her away, it might have been the 2 year old or some other bird thing. This lilac bush is absolutely hideous and way overgrown, but it has had nests in it this year and last, so I guess it is staying. Sorry neighborhood. I put up a feeder in back and it took the birds a long while to find it, but now that they have we are sprinting through seed and suet. Very exciting. My pictures could have been better if I had used a ladder, but my doctor said no ladders for me. I can hardly blame her.

I hope you are all enjoying the start of your summer! Enjoy the weather and the sunshine and if you are having a rough day, keep in mind that you could be vomiting as well as dealing with all the crap you are dealing with. Dorisa Nelson- providing you the slimmest silver lining since 1986.

Oskar Loves The Lorax- Dan and Dorisa Hate The Pokey Little Puppy

Oskar is addicted to The Lorax. This is lucky because I actually don't mind reading it over and over again. Downside is that it is a very long book, so it's a bit of a commitment. Sometimes I try spicing things up a bit by singing some of the words. The page that starts with "Way back in the day when the grass was still green and the pond was still wet and the clouds were still clean" sounds super as a 1940s/50s musical take-action type song. Sometimes I do some of the book in a rap, but since I'm the one doing it, it probably sounds like a bad cheer. One time Dan considered reading Oh The Places You'll Go in a metal type voice, but this book was already giving him nightmares at the time so he decided against it. The Pokey Little Puppy is a terrible book. Just saying.

Like most toddlers, Oskar loves picking flowers for mommy.
Every time he does this I of course think of Five Iron Frenzy's song Dandelions.
Then I am especially happy. Watch the video HERE.

If Oskar doesn't get tired enough during the day he will do anything to prolong story time. This includes cry/chanting "one more book." I always turn off the light and sing him some songs and when I try to get up he goes "Momma lay down? Momma lay down? Momma lay down right here." And pats the second pillow on his bed. He is so cute. It is somewhat heart breaking.

Sunday morning cuddles. Drank his milk, said thank you,
snuggled in and was snoring in 30 seconds.

My doctor has put me on "survival mode" as far as eating goes. She said that if I can eat it, shove it down. If I don't start eating more I'll have to go in in a couple weeks for a weigh-in and to discuss some options. I don't expect this to happen. I have started feeling a bit better- been much less nauseous, just quite light headed. I had my first trimester screening and everything went well there. Got some ultrasound pictures, including the creepy 3D ones. The baby was so still and calm until about the last 2 or 3 minutes and then it literally looked like it started dancing. I'm thinking it was sleeping and then something startled it and it looked like it punched into the air and then just started squirming about. It was pretty funny.

Creepy alien baby says 'hi'

Has anyone ever tried to gain weight before? This is not a common problem in our society and it is a completely backward way of thinking. For example:

Dan: "Do you want any garlic bread or anything to go with it?"
Dorisa: "Um, no thanks, I'm good, I don't want to make it."
Dan: "I can get the pre-prepared stuff."
Dorisa: "Don't worry about it."
Dan: "It'll add a bunch of calories."
Dorisa: "Good point. Go for it."

I know I don't usually make the healthiest eating choices, but I try to choose the healthier of unhealthy options. Like deciding to put a small dollop of light sour cream in my chili versus a large dollop of real sour cream. Now everything is backwards. Bring on the sour cream! Garlic bread? I'll have 3! It's literally bread soaked in butter! I can't loose! Naked juice is "Not a low calorie food." Great! Fruit AND calories!

Oskar does a puppy puzzle in his puppy blanket.

Some toolbag kid just threw what looked like strips of tar into our yard. I'm pretty upset about that. I tried to get up and tell him to pick it up, but I lost my blood and had to sit down. I'm mad. Who does that? Just when I was thinking, "It's nice to live in a neighborhood where kids are always running about. And how nice of that kid to pick up that garbage and throw it away." WRONG. I want to punch something. School is already out in this town. That is clearly a mistake because it let all the hooligans out into the world.

Oskar is a Problem Solver

Umm, there needs to be a button on the remote that changes the commercials if you are pregnant (or just sick, I suppose). "I constantly feel like I'm going to throw up, please don't show me commercials with talking toe fungus, thank you."

There was one night Oskar just kept talking after we had story time and song time before bed.
He had said "one more book" but he will say anything to keep you in there with him.
He crawled down, got a bear and a book and crawled back up. We were hearing him read the story to his bear.
He is at the end of his bed because that is where the light from the hallway shines in.

Oskar had a pretty special moment a while back.
"Oskar! Did you put your toothbrush in the toilet?!?"
"Noooooo." Pauses and starts smiling. "I did it!" Beaming with pride.
No, we weren't mad. You should have seen his face- there has never been a toddler more proud of his ingenuity. Measures were taken to prevent this from happening again. These measures are now null and void since Oskar can open doors with round knobs now.

Larry Bird's estate is for sale. 

Last weekend I went to French Lick, Indiana. I ate at Larry Bird's restaurant TWICE. We went for a handbell retreat and while I was going with some people I know quite well from the Twin Cities, I was travelling with people that I did not know at all from the Sioux Falls area. They were all extremely good to me and didn't seem annoyed with my troubles so I'm very happy about that. We went to French Lick because the clinician was supposed to be amazing (which he totally was) and he lives in Paris so it's not like he's at a lot of stuff over here. One member of our party was also able to get us free housing, so the whole event only cost us each $65 (this is a very good deal).

Health-wise, the weekend went well. I think I was able to eat more because I didn't need to worry about finding the energy to cook anything. It helps to get out and about sometimes, but other times I almost pass out at Costco, so it's kind of a crap shoot. I'm glad I was able to not be too terrible on the trip though.

Hi! I promise, sometimes we try to comb his hair. It is not worth the effort.

Before Larry Bird, French Lick was made famous by its mineral springs. Let me tell you a little bit about mineral springs. They smell really, really bad. Like sulfur mixed with sewage. Makes me gag a bit just remembering it. People used to drink this stuff for its "healing powers," and apparently it was quite the laxative. The practice was stopped in the early 70s after lithium was discovered in the water. Good job humans. "This water smells really weird- let's drink it!" "Oh my goodness, I got really sick after drinking it! Let's sell it!" It sold for over 50 years, That there IS the American Dream.

Tomato juice was also invented in French Lick. Apparently the chef ran out of oranges to make orange juice so he made juice from tomatoes. How he thought  this was an acceptable substitution is beyond me.

We were ridiculously close to Kentucky for Derby weekend. As we were packing up on Saturday there was a line with about 200 people in it waiting to get into the derby party- hats and all. I'm not really a derby girl. Correction: I am NOT a derby girl. I don't mind the hats as long as they are not just ugly for the sake of being big. I think I'm bothered because the owner of the horse seems to get the most credit- sure the jockey and trainer are up there too, but it's not their 10 year old weeping tears of entitled joy. I don't mean to offend any derby fans, I really don't know much about it, but all day coverage for a 2 minute race? Really? At least it's not dressage. Do not get me started on dressage.

My birthday was on the third and I spent all day (14 hours) in the car. There were 5 drivers so we all took a turn. We were lucky to be travelling in in a brand new Honda Odyssey. If you are looking to buy a van I seriously recommend checking one of these out. It was a very good car. The car we had was also a dealer car, so technically none of us owned it. The drive was completely uneventful until my turn (of course). We knew the weather was going to turn, but someone still made the decision to go through southern Minnesota instead of Iowa which would have avoided our doom. In Albert Lea we ran into a massive storm. Honestly I'm glad I was driving because I would have been freaking out otherwise. The car dealer's wife knew someone who was working at the dealership in Albert Lea so we got the car pulled in for protection against possible hail and had some old popcorn and cookies. It was pretty spectacular. I also learned that I'm too tall to own a Corvette, which is good because that will save us, like, $70,000. I'd like to say that the ride from Albert Lea was quick and painless, but we apparently had to stop at 2 rest stops (really?) AND the most giant coyote ran about 40 feet in front of our car. Great. At the end of the day, the car was returned damage free and pretty clean thanks to nature's power wash in Albert Lea.

Oskar missed me. We were on opposite ends of the couch. I said "Oskar, you're such a sweet boy."
He then crawled over to me and ended up here. I would like to remind you that he weighs 33 pounds, but who needs to breath?
He also farted probably 15 times while sitting here, but who doesn't love baby snuggles.

6.57 months/28.15 weeks/198 days until my final baby is due. Things aren't going great, but I'm still able to work (from my couch) and I try to help out around the house when I can, but it's not enough. This place is a hole. I thought I had turned a corner after French Lick, but I really haven't. This was made clear by my almost passing out at our concert yesterday. Luckily, my bass buddy provided me an emergency stool so I could sit and play. I was able to make it off stage after our first song- the other choir was playing at this point- but there was definite tunnel vision with the last 8 steps or so and I had to lay down immediately. Someone brought me a cold wet paper towel and I was able to cool down enough and get enough blood back in my head to go up for our 2 pieces before intermission. I was so warm that moisture condensed on the inside of my glasses. That was new.

At intermission I was able to force down a cracker with cheese and 2 fruit snacks. This was enough to get me through the remaining 3 songs. Luckily these were the ones with the heavy lifting and I was feeling well enough to get through them without embarrassing myself too badly. I posted on Facebook that my bass buddy and I manage 29 bass bells and chimes together. For those of you who don't know, most bell ringers have 4-ish bells and 4-ish chimes. Maybe more if they are doing the octaves on top. We were plenty busy down at the bottom, I'll leave it at that. I have since learned that around this time (12 weeks pregnant) blood flow increases to the baby which slows the return of blood to me. This means lower blood pressure and reduced blood flow to the brain. Splendid. In a normal person this would be annoying, in me it's downright terrifying.

The most swollen. I could see my pulse in
the white-ish part of it
when I tried to straighten it.

The itchiest.

Holy moly I almost forgot to tell you that I got stung! I was selfishly using a handrail to help myself down some steps in French Lick and the wasp was just primed and ready to stick me. And he did. It has been some time since I have been stung. It REALLY hurts. And then you think it's fine. And then it REALLY itches and it REALLY hurts. It took a week, but I am now fully recovered.

Thanks for reading! Have a great week!

Dorisa Quits Going to Church

Oskar works on his masterpiece. I realize this was a couple months ago now.

Masterpiece completed. I would do some things differently next time, but it was
still a good experience. Oskar loved painting.

No, it's not because I lost my faith when we were sent to South Dakota. Turns out He knew what He was doing and we are doing quite well here. As the weirdly confident Park Nicollet receptionist predicted, we are in fact, thriving. Seriously, I mentioned where we were moving and she couldn't have been more excited for us and no, we do not know her.

Back on track. Ignoring all previous knowledge and experience, we have decided to have another baby. Baby is due 11/25 and is being referred to as Turkey Baby. For those of you who were witness to my first pregnancy, no, right now I have no idea what I was thinking. I currently find that I am unable to stand for more than a couple minutes without having to lean on something and the nausea, which is actually not as bad as last time, is doing it's best to keep me near the bathroom. My situation with going to church would be difficult enough with just me, but add in a spunky 2 year old and I guarantee you I will lose the morning. I really did go into this pregnancy telling myself that every pregnancy is different and that this one will be great. One thing I have learned is that all the optimistic thinking in the world does nothing for how your body responds to a parasite.

I know that we are lucky to be able to have children, I get that. I know many people who would love to be sick for 9 months in order to get the family they always dreamed they would have. Honestly, it is just very difficult to remember how lucky you are when you do not remember the last time that you didn't dread having to stand up. I try to remember though, I really do.

It is a little better this time. I forced myself to eat a lot at the beginning when it was easy to eat and that has helped tremendously but I still find myself underweight which I think is where some of the lightheadedness comes from. I wrote a detailed description of my weight fluctuations, but it was boring. What you need to know is that I should not weigh as much now as I did in 8th grade. I am seriously trying so hard to eat and I am eating super calorie rich things, and meat, much more meat than I usually do and this parasite just keeps sucking it out of me! I am playing tug of war facing uphill on a 30 degree slope with something the size of a prune and I am losing. LOSING. I have rarely been so frustrated which often manifests as crying and then Dan thinks I'm sad but I'm not sad, I want to punch things, but oh wait, that would require energy and I have NONE.

The frustration only deepens when I think about all the stuff I want to get done around the house and the lack of energy and money I have to accomplish this stuff. One thing I am especially thankful for during this time however is a job that I can do from home, at any time of day. Yes, this is good.

Benefits of needing to be horizontal? I can binge watch Netflix without feeling too guilty. I'm almost done with Fringe, then I'll finish up Heroes and then go back to my Star Trek adventures. Good stuff! I could also write or work on genealogy which have been neglected hobbies as of late, but that sounds pretty close to being productive. Side note: Many of you know that I'm a fan of Doctor Who. If I can recommend just one episode to watch it would be "Vincent and the Doctor" in season 5. It is so good and can pretty much stand alone and give you an idea of what the show is like.

How is Oskar taking this new information? Well, he doesn't quite get it yet, but Mommy is on the couch a lot so this clearly means we should use her as a climbing gym. Double points if you headbutt her in the face. Dan and I have decided that if our next kid is even half as spunky as the first, we are screwed.

Oooo! I almost forgot! Sometime between now and 11 years ago they changed the formula for easy cheese. It's still great and if you're judging me I don't care. It doesn't get hard on the end anymore between uses! It also doesn't come out in quite as precise of a line as it used to, but that's okay.

So folks, here's to the next 7 months. We are going to share this "beautiful" journey together, because if I'm going down I'm taking every one of you with me. Have a good night!

Oskar Hits a Phone

Oskar is a boy. That's all you can really say about this picture.

You're about to watch a pretty impressive video in which Oskar gives the camera a hi-five, but before we get to that I'd like to offer up some tips for the DIYer:
-Generally, one knows to wear scrubby clothes when painting, but try not to get in the habit of wiping your hands on your paints when there is paint on them because one time you will be wearing jeans and you'll get done with the MINISCULE project you were working on and there WILL be paint on your jeans. Not that this happened to me...
-I have no doubt that you have the most amazing dog/cat/hamster/insert pet type here but for the love of Pete please wash your walls (and ceilings) before painting them. It is not necessary to preserve their fur in a coat of paint on your walls.
-Get the high end paint rollers. I recommend Purdy. I do NOT recommend Shur-line. There is a definite difference in lint remnants.
-Any amount of spray paint is too much to spray indoors in the middle of winter. You might think, "Oh this is just a tiny project, the fumes won't be too bad." STOP. Do not do it. Either get other paint or postpone your project.
-Always, always, always do 2 coats if you are looking for a good, even finish when painting walls. For every wall I've painted I have paused and wondered if I really need to do 2 coats and each time I am so glad that I did. Even the most careful and obsessive painter can not guarantee an absolutely even coat of paint.

And now, what we've all been waiting for:

He was growling and I wanted a video of that because it sounded like Simba on The Lion King.
He put his hand up to block the bright light from my phone but then took it to a whole new level.

My lack of posting indicates that we have been busy, and we have. We have been mostly healthy, but life keeps happening. Oskar has grown an inch and a half since his 2 year appointment and is alternating between eating everything and eating nothing. Very fun.

I have been busy fixing up our laundry/storage room. New drain, newly painted floor, some concrete repair, less dust, new drainage tube for the furnace- overall it looks a lot better and I was able to put some shelves in there for storage. Now I just need to put up a couple walls, seal the foundation walls, and add a door and it'll be good to go. If you are interested in helping with this, feel free.

The terrifying, disgusting pit of despair in our laundry room.

Post CLR and significant scrubbing. 

My beautiful laundry room! Still annoying that the machines aren't be each other,
but worlds better than before. Success!

Oskar has fallen in love with puppies. It is quite annoying because every time we look at our phones or computers Oskar comes running, saying "Puppy?!?!?" and looking to see puppy pictures and videos. This is especially inconvenient since both Dan and I occasionally work from home. Luckily, my phone doesn't have access to any puppy pictures or videos. Oskar and I watch orchestral performances. He loves them and I find them more interesting than puppy videos.

Oskar's room is FINALLY almost done. I just need to install his headboard (which turned out great if I do say so myself, thanks to the guy who makes all our furniture, but more about that in another post) and Oskar and I have a very fun art project to do together which will either be awesome or end disastrously. We'll see.

Oskar's headboard before. I think I got it for $5 or $15. I can't remember.

The finished product perched oh so beautifully on our asbestos tiles.

I hope you are all well! And Jan, Oskar says you need to stay healthy. You have not been doing a good job at this and it makes him sad.