A Weekend Home (MN).
Okay, I'm ready to have this baby. Not really....since he needs to grow just a little more...another 6 weeks and we'll be sitting good. :D It's just that I can do without the back aches, sore & swollen feet / ankles, and the medicine ball pressing down on my bladder whenever I walk (waddle).
On a happier note..........
Picture by Mike Vlcek from Charlie's photoshoot the other weekend.
Charlie was happy to see us finally come home Monday night. :D However, I think he may be kind of mad at us 'cuz he's not giving out the kisses abundantly. Think Winston may have been replaced as his favorite bud too. Last night I asked him if he wanted to go see Winston and got no response. Then asked him where Bruno was...and his ears perked up and he went to the door, looking around for Bruno. Those 2 are like peas in a pod and I'm sure Charlie had fun with his Boxer buddie. (Bruno's so big that Charlie can practically walk right under him.) Nancy said that the other afternoon / evening the 2 of them actually curled up together on Bruno's bed for a nap. How I wish I could have seen that.
I can't even explain how nice it was to be home: away from everything to take care of at the apartment, away from work, away from Colorado....just home relaxing and visiting with family and friends for 3 days. :D
Saturday we took Kayla & Carter (and Grandpa Karl, Kyle's dad) mini golfing and then caught some lunch with Craig & Nicki. After lunch I was exhausted. We had a little time to go back to the house and shower. Thankfully, the shower was enough to refresh me for the shower Linda and Nicki hosted in my (and Nubins') honor. It was a small shower, being that we had such short notice coming home. But that's nice in itself, because I got a chance to visit with everyone more. ...and everyone got more fruit pizza! (Yes, Kyle's mom actually cooked. :D ) Kyle and Craig played with Carter and schemed out Craig's new train room downstairs....and like a typical baby shower, came up to raid the food after all the games and presents (oooing over cuteness) were done.
Sunday we drove out to Willmar with my parents to visit my grandpa. Mom woke us up with the smell of bacon drifting through the house. Works everytime! We got out to Willmar in time to take Grandpa out to lunch. He wanted Culver's and even though we'd had it the day before, there's always room for Culver's frozen custard rasberry sundae. :D After supper we took him out to the farm. This was the first time Kyle had been out to the farm. There are a lot of childhood memories stirred up when I go out there. We didn't pull out the 4-wheelers... Grandpa and I were already getting tired anyways. We just walked around, sat by the garage talking and played with Rosie.
Dad was able to talk Grandpa into agreeing to let my parents take Rosie home with them. We brought Grandpa back to the assisted living home...and he was bawling when we left. Because Rosie (his last hope of moving back out to the farm) was going home with Mom & Dad, Mom & Dad were going home, Kyle & I were going back to Denver (until December when we'll return once again with our new little baby)....and nobody comes to visit him.... Monday we got the news from Mom and Zanna that Grandpa went to the hospital Sunday night. He is in with pneumonia again. *sigh* ...and I thought he was looking okay when we visited. He's filled out in the face some and had good color to his skin (obviously benefits of better nutrition and continuous oxygen therapy). But later, I realize that he's probably filled out in the face mostly from fluid retention and back-up. He was extra conscience of making sure he had his nitroglycerin tabs with him in his shirt pocket. I think he's been taking them often, confusing angina / congestion with chest pain. *sigh* What do you do? I'm very glad we got home to see him and got to spend the afternoon with him at the farm.
We had to get back to the Cities for supper with both sides of the family....and Erin. We wanted to do Buca's, but we just didn't have the time to go all the way back home to drop Rosie off and then all the way to Buca's. Instead we tied Rosie up in Mom & Dad R's backyard and went to Olive Garden. We came back 2 hours later and the neighbor had taken her from the yard because they knew Linda & Karl didn't have a dog...and thought she was some other neighbors' dog. Thankfully, they hadn't turned her into Animal Control and we found them a few blocks away walking her. Their neighbor next door thought that maybe someone had abandoned her by tieing her up in the backyard. Uh-huh...and left her in the shade with a bowl of water?
Monday we only had to bring one thing back (from the shower) to Target. My mom and someone else had bought us the same pack of sleepers in the same size. *L* My mom, in her excitement, took all the clothes she bought out of the packages and packed them into a diaper bag for us. Nubins had his very own luggage back to Denver....several times bigger than himself. The sleepers ended up being on clearance, so we couldn't get a bigger size of them. So we took the couple bucks and used one of our gift cards to buy a long-sleeved rocker onesie and denim overalls. I LOVE "bibs" (overalls) on little kids! I'm sure Nubins will have plenty.
We were able to meet up with Walchy for lunch at TGIF's...and I enjoyed the best spinach dip! It's always good to see Walchy. He and Jamie moved in together the other weekend, so it sounds like things are going well for him on that front. We discussed some of the future plans we have for the studio with him. It's nice to finally have the freedom to be excited about it all. His band is working on an album in Minneapolis right now (at another studio). We weren't able to get ahold of Dittmar all weekend and suspect that he had taken off to Chicago to visit his girl. That afternoon we chilled out at Kyle's parents' house....especially so I could keep my feet up and rest. Zanna brought our cousin, Matty over to visit for awhile before we had to leave. Wow, has she ever grown up!!!! (I remember babysitting her when our Grandma Who was in hospice, she was only 3-4 months old at the time....and now she's going to be starting 7th grade.)
We had a little extra time when we got down to the airport and were able to hit up a walk through Ikea. :D Love that store! We didn't do too bad. We came home with 3 new rugs (for our new wood laminate floors in the kitchen and livingroom) and a hanging hamper thinger for Nubins' bedroom. Had just enough room in the suitcase. It was perfect. Our flight back to Denver was delayed 2 hours so we got to relax some at the airport as well. By the time we picked up Charlie from Nancy's pad, it was well after midnight by the time we got home and laid our heads down. Yesterday evening both of us were exhausted....but we had to at least do laundry. Going to bed last night, Kyle commented that I looked "painfully exhausted". I was.
Tonight will be better....at least we'll get grocery shopping done. :D
On a happier note..........
Picture by Mike Vlcek from Charlie's photoshoot the other weekend.
Charlie was happy to see us finally come home Monday night. :D However, I think he may be kind of mad at us 'cuz he's not giving out the kisses abundantly. Think Winston may have been replaced as his favorite bud too. Last night I asked him if he wanted to go see Winston and got no response. Then asked him where Bruno was...and his ears perked up and he went to the door, looking around for Bruno. Those 2 are like peas in a pod and I'm sure Charlie had fun with his Boxer buddie. (Bruno's so big that Charlie can practically walk right under him.) Nancy said that the other afternoon / evening the 2 of them actually curled up together on Bruno's bed for a nap. How I wish I could have seen that.
I can't even explain how nice it was to be home: away from everything to take care of at the apartment, away from work, away from Colorado....just home relaxing and visiting with family and friends for 3 days. :D
Saturday we took Kayla & Carter (and Grandpa Karl, Kyle's dad) mini golfing and then caught some lunch with Craig & Nicki. After lunch I was exhausted. We had a little time to go back to the house and shower. Thankfully, the shower was enough to refresh me for the shower Linda and Nicki hosted in my (and Nubins') honor. It was a small shower, being that we had such short notice coming home. But that's nice in itself, because I got a chance to visit with everyone more. ...and everyone got more fruit pizza! (Yes, Kyle's mom actually cooked. :D ) Kyle and Craig played with Carter and schemed out Craig's new train room downstairs....and like a typical baby shower, came up to raid the food after all the games and presents (oooing over cuteness) were done.
Sunday we drove out to Willmar with my parents to visit my grandpa. Mom woke us up with the smell of bacon drifting through the house. Works everytime! We got out to Willmar in time to take Grandpa out to lunch. He wanted Culver's and even though we'd had it the day before, there's always room for Culver's frozen custard rasberry sundae. :D After supper we took him out to the farm. This was the first time Kyle had been out to the farm. There are a lot of childhood memories stirred up when I go out there. We didn't pull out the 4-wheelers... Grandpa and I were already getting tired anyways. We just walked around, sat by the garage talking and played with Rosie.
Dad was able to talk Grandpa into agreeing to let my parents take Rosie home with them. We brought Grandpa back to the assisted living home...and he was bawling when we left. Because Rosie (his last hope of moving back out to the farm) was going home with Mom & Dad, Mom & Dad were going home, Kyle & I were going back to Denver (until December when we'll return once again with our new little baby)....and nobody comes to visit him.... Monday we got the news from Mom and Zanna that Grandpa went to the hospital Sunday night. He is in with pneumonia again. *sigh* ...and I thought he was looking okay when we visited. He's filled out in the face some and had good color to his skin (obviously benefits of better nutrition and continuous oxygen therapy). But later, I realize that he's probably filled out in the face mostly from fluid retention and back-up. He was extra conscience of making sure he had his nitroglycerin tabs with him in his shirt pocket. I think he's been taking them often, confusing angina / congestion with chest pain. *sigh* What do you do? I'm very glad we got home to see him and got to spend the afternoon with him at the farm.
We had to get back to the Cities for supper with both sides of the family....and Erin. We wanted to do Buca's, but we just didn't have the time to go all the way back home to drop Rosie off and then all the way to Buca's. Instead we tied Rosie up in Mom & Dad R's backyard and went to Olive Garden. We came back 2 hours later and the neighbor had taken her from the yard because they knew Linda & Karl didn't have a dog...and thought she was some other neighbors' dog. Thankfully, they hadn't turned her into Animal Control and we found them a few blocks away walking her. Their neighbor next door thought that maybe someone had abandoned her by tieing her up in the backyard. Uh-huh...and left her in the shade with a bowl of water?
Monday we only had to bring one thing back (from the shower) to Target. My mom and someone else had bought us the same pack of sleepers in the same size. *L* My mom, in her excitement, took all the clothes she bought out of the packages and packed them into a diaper bag for us. Nubins had his very own luggage back to Denver....several times bigger than himself. The sleepers ended up being on clearance, so we couldn't get a bigger size of them. So we took the couple bucks and used one of our gift cards to buy a long-sleeved rocker onesie and denim overalls. I LOVE "bibs" (overalls) on little kids! I'm sure Nubins will have plenty.
We were able to meet up with Walchy for lunch at TGIF's...and I enjoyed the best spinach dip! It's always good to see Walchy. He and Jamie moved in together the other weekend, so it sounds like things are going well for him on that front. We discussed some of the future plans we have for the studio with him. It's nice to finally have the freedom to be excited about it all. His band is working on an album in Minneapolis right now (at another studio). We weren't able to get ahold of Dittmar all weekend and suspect that he had taken off to Chicago to visit his girl. That afternoon we chilled out at Kyle's parents' house....especially so I could keep my feet up and rest. Zanna brought our cousin, Matty over to visit for awhile before we had to leave. Wow, has she ever grown up!!!! (I remember babysitting her when our Grandma Who was in hospice, she was only 3-4 months old at the time....and now she's going to be starting 7th grade.)
We had a little extra time when we got down to the airport and were able to hit up a walk through Ikea. :D Love that store! We didn't do too bad. We came home with 3 new rugs (for our new wood laminate floors in the kitchen and livingroom) and a hanging hamper thinger for Nubins' bedroom. Had just enough room in the suitcase. It was perfect. Our flight back to Denver was delayed 2 hours so we got to relax some at the airport as well. By the time we picked up Charlie from Nancy's pad, it was well after midnight by the time we got home and laid our heads down. Yesterday evening both of us were exhausted....but we had to at least do laundry. Going to bed last night, Kyle commented that I looked "painfully exhausted". I was.
Tonight will be better....at least we'll get grocery shopping done. :D