Blogging

Hello!

I have to be honest, I have not wanted to blog. I don't know why I have such a bad attitude about it, but I have. I like to look at everyone else's blog, but I guess I just haven't really wanted to write myself. Finally, I am in the mood!

So what have we been up to? Ben has been working a crazy amount because they are currently down one man. It has been hard, but in the end we are both just grateful to have our jobs. Not everyone is that lucky.

I don't really write about my job much on here, but it is really a pretty large part of my life. I love my job and am usually excited to get back to work every Monday morning. It can be really stressful at times, when problems arise, but it also keeps me on my toes. Lately, I have been doing a lot more closings instead of searching. When I first started working at Total Title 3 years ago, I was deathly afraid of doing a closing...it meant I had to work with numbers and sound like I knew what I was talking about in front of other people. So scary! Now I love it and enjoy meeting new people every day. Simple refinances are fun because they are usually pretty laid back and there isn't much pressure. Sales are fun because it means that someone has just bought a house or a piece of land - and they are usually pretty excited about the whole event!

I also love searching because the inner historian and researcher in me likes to get in deep figuring out the legal description and putting the puzzle pieces together. Love my job! I also work for my mother in law who is very flexible and understanding of the fact that I am a working mom! So nice. The plan is for me to buy the title company one day and I am excited for the opportunity! I never ever had a goal to own my own company some day, it just kind of fell in my lap and I am very grateful!

So now for an update on little miss diva....Gracelyn is all girl! She loves to play with her babies!! She also loves chocolate!! Her most favorite thing to do would probably be dancing. She loves to dance. And the girl has rhythm, seriously. I don't mean to brag, but....I guess it runs in the family :-) She has been grooving to music since she was like 5 months old, but she has gotten more coordinated as she has gotten older. Her favorite song? If your happy and you know it! She dances around the room every time we sing it. When the song is done, she does her "more" sign and then we start all over.

The biggest news with the little one since the last time I wrote is that she is now a walking woman!!! She took her first few steps on August 30 and now is walking all over. I have been waiting for this moment and it has been worth the wait! I love that she can walk now, even if it is more work. She walks around with a huge smile on her face. She is so proud. And, it is also easier to dance when you know how to walk :-)

Can't wait for fall!! We are going to go pick apples next weekend! I crocheted Gracelyn an adorable hat for fall with a cute flower on it. I am going to crochet another one soon! I love coats and hats and snow and hot cocoa and christmas and thanksgiving and all of it!! Bring it on!

Just like Mr. Ledebuhr, Gracelyn got her hair cut for the first time since I posted too...Here are the before and after pics...

 

We are back!

So, we haven't really been blogging lately...obviously. So far we have had a very busy summer! We spent a week at the cabin. Gracelyn loved being outside and on the lake!! Then Ben's brother got married - Congrats Bruce and Shannen! Ben had been waiting for the "father/daughter dance" since the day we found out that they were getting married!

I have only been working 4 days a week so I am really enjoying the extra time off. We try to do fun things on my day off so we take advantage of the beautiful summer weather! Yesterday we went to the Madison zoo with my cousin Lisa, her two kids (Delaney and Dayne), my mom and dad, sister, sister-in-law, and my nephew Camden. We had an amazing time. I have noticed that watching Camden walk has peaked Gracelyn's interest and she wants me to walk her around more often. She still wants to hold on to both of my hands, but I am hoping within the month she will be walking on her own! She is frusterated and I want to end her frustration.

On a sadder note, and partly the reason I haven't wanted to blog, my cousin Kjersten passed away on July 14th. We were blessed to have 30 wonderful years with her and know that God must have really needed her in order to take her away from us so soon. She will always be in our thoughts and hearts.

Gracelyn at 1...

Well, we now have a wonderful, beautiful 1 year old.

At 12 months old she loves:
Bananas
Popsicles
Her water table
Swinging
Being outside (she would love to be outside 24/7)
Her blankie (really blankies, I switch them out so that they will last longer, she drags them everywhere)
Giving kisses (we haven't learned to close our mouth yet though so they are juicy!)
Her sunglasses
To sleep!! We are lucky, lucky people!

She dislikes:
Cuddling (except when she is tired or sick and in the right mood)
Being inside
Mommy not letting her play with her cell phone
Being held by a stranger or even being talked to by a stranger (friendly huh?)


She is quite attached to her mommy and daddy, which is hard at times. We are working on it!

The picture below shows gracelyn snuggled up in her very favorite blanket, with her fingers intertwined in it, sleeping away...

Diapers...

I had no idea how much fun it would be to crawl into a room, pull out all of the diapers out of their package, throw them around myself, and then try to eat them. No clue. But I guess it is fun, because she had a ball!!

Below you will find something very rare. Pictures of Gracelyn and I. There aren't many of these! The picture quality is really crappy once I put them on here. I don't know why. They look much better on my computer. ....??? Oh well!

Grateful

I have had a very difficult last 3 weeks. I have come away from the entire experience a very grateful wife, mother, daughter, and sister. Lets start from the beginning. Ben and I made the extremely hard decision to change daycares. It was one of the hardest things I have done. We are very happy at the new place, but miss our old sitter as well. The new daycare has kids closer to Gracelyn's age and it has been fun to see how she has adjusted. She is loving it. So while this was a very tough ordeal, it has turned out well.

The next weekend we got to surprise my brother at the Wilderness in the Dells for his 30th birthday. It was a super fun weekend filled with water and great times with our family. Gracelyn LOVES water, so even though she was under the weather she had a great time!

We got news Sunday night, the 25th of April, that my cousin Kjersten was in the hospital again. On July 28, 2005 Kjersten was diagnosed with gastro-esophogeal cancer. She has been battling this for almost 5 years. She is now 30 years old. There was a period in there that she was in remission, but unfortunately the cancer returned. We were told on Tuesday that all the chemo had permantly damaged her heart and her organs were shutting down due to the fact that her heart was only working at about 10%. She was given days to live. All of her friends and family rushed to La Crosse in order to say goodbye to her. We also prayed, and prayed, and prayed that she could get more time. More time with her husband Travis, more time with her mom and dad, her brother, her sister, her nieces, her nephews, her family and friends. We were not ready to say goodbye to her. Let me just tell you that my cousin in no ordinary young woman. She is a superwoman. Seriously the strongest, most positive woman I know. Never did she accept that the cancer would ultimately take her. She has fought extremely hard and everyone keeps saying that it is a miracle that she is still with us on this earth and seeming to get better each day. I think they are right. I think that God has given us a miracle. I also believe that Kjersten is an amazing person. And if anyone in this world could beat the odds it would be her. She inspires me to hug my husband more, enjoy Gracelyn (every little bit of her) crabby or not, savor each conversation I have with my family,and be so very, very grateful for the life that God has given me. Thank you Kjersten for all that you have given us, your friends and family, you have given us strength, hope, love, and inspiration beyond anything I could have ever imagined. And thank you heavenly father for showing us how POWERFUL you are. Miracles happen every day!









As always I need to end the post with pictures. The first is of my beautiful cousin. The rest are Easter and Justin's B-Day... Tell someone you love that you love them...now!

Changes..

Since the last time I posted soo much has changed! Our baby has become an independent little girl overnight. She started to crawl on February 26 and started to pull herself up to stand on March 6. It amazes me how quickly things can change. One night she isn't crawling and the next she is crawling all over the house! She is also starting to learn what "no" means. The consesus is - she doesn't like it. She would like to swallow bugs, fall off beds, put her hand into light suckets, break the computer, and pull her mommy's hair. And yet we tell her she can't... I love picking her up at daycare and having her crawl right to me. She does the same thing when Ben gets home from work. So even though we have to tell her "no"...she still loves us to pieces. She will learn that saying "no" is really one of the many ways we will show her how much we love her. She is also drinking very well from a sippy cup. They are babies for such a short amount of time...Overall, we are really just enjoying life and the warmer, sunnier weather! Osseo girls and Altoona girls are going to State!! Congrats ladies!!

Here are some pics - The first one is Gracelyn crawling. (P.S. The flower in her hair I bought from May Day Studio! Love her hair clips! The owner of May Day Studio is a friend of my friend Ashley Phipps)Then there is one of Gracelyn out in the snow before it melted and then a few of her 9 month pics! Enjoy!