New rubber, more fruit

Went to Costco yesterday to install the new tires we got from Heathers parents for Christmas. What a difference! We haven't had rain yet, but they make the car feel very different, much smoother and quieter. Tusen takk!
I also picked up more fruit. Lucia will eat this $9 tray in a 2-3 days:

A fun table

Who knew a table could be so much fun?

So cold!

It has been really cold here lately.

Thanks!

It's Thanksgiving! I'm so thankful for a lot of things this year:

• our health, which isn't a small feat given the flu season and you-know-who being in daycare.
• my job and financial security.
• our new apartment, and the loveliness that comes with living in a real neighborhood and feeling a sense of community.
• our friends and family. You know who you are, peeps.
  
• healthcare. Nuff said.
• A precious dog that continues to provide unconditional love despite playing second fiddle to you-know-who.
  
• a great marriage to my best friend. The man is my rock.
  
• You-know-who, who astounds me everyday with more and more love and wonder.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Spoiled!

Fun with Mimi and (Big) Papa! My parents are in town, and OF COURSE we have an insane schedule planned. I tried really really hard to dial it back to manageable, and it's getting crazy anyway.

Yesterday, our first task was to fix my sewing machine. It keeps jamming, which turns a basic 30-minute job into a six-hour event which usually ends with me cussing a lot. Right. So we adjusted the tension on the bobbin, then took it to a store to have it fixed. He adjusted the tension even more, and VOILA, we think it's working again. Finally, we can hem our bedroom curtains, and I can get crackin on my Christmas presents.

THEN, mom and I set out yesterday to find musical toys that 1. weren't babyish and 2. had multiple components to be interesting, since Lucia lights up and continues to dance at the mere hint of music. Pete and I are also trying to limit the amount of plastic China crap we buy, so there was that consideration too. We settled on three toys that had songs, one includes a table (pictures to come). Now she dances and wiggles even more, if that was possible.

THEN we went to have manicures and pedicures. And then Pete and I went out for an outstanding birthday dinner for me. It was so fun and delicious.

Tonight we're having a nice dinner with Josh, tomorrow night Mom and I are going to my sewing class, Thursday night they're having dinner with Josh and his boss, Friday day I'm off work and Mom and I are going shoe shopping (!), Friday night we're going to see our awesome friends Chris and Mandy, Saturday we're tentatively planning a picnic, and Sunday they go home.

In between all that, we're trying to enjoy Little Miss as much as we can. She's just such a ball of love and grins.

Babble Babble Babble

Lucia is very very into a few things lately:

• Babbling. It goes like this: Babble Babble Babble. Pause. Babble Babble Babble. Pause. She likes to say some things (uninteligable) with lots of emphasis and volume, like SHE REALLY MEANS IT.
• Reading books. She wakes up and likes to finish her *milk, then heads to her bookshelf to select a book. We read that one. Then another. Then another. Then another. Then repeat the first one. Then we go in and wake up Daddy and she wants him to read her more. She holds out a book and says: BEEEE BEEEEEEED. We're interpeting that as READ! *milk = formula
  
• Combing her hair. I taught her how to do this a few weeks ago; now she gets a certain proud look on her face when she does it. It's hilarious, since most of the time she's just moving the handle across her head.
  

In other news:

• Lucia has a cold, which means she's super stuffy and unfortunately for Pete, super cranky all day. OOOF. We're hoping she's on the mend soon, and we're REALLY hoping, we don't get it.
  
• Related: she'll be starting daycare 2 days a week next week. Pete is basically over the moon at this news. It's great; she's adjusting to Stacey and now doesn't have a problem being dropped off. Hooray!
  
• I turn 36 Friday, and I can tell you 100% certainty this has been the longest year of my life. Really.
  
• My parents arrive Sunday! FUN! We're really excited to hang with them and for them to babysit see Lucia. ;)
  

Even More Halloween Pictures

Cause we know you can't get enough. They start on p2 -- we went to a friend's baby shower.

Halloween!

I had no idea, but this was Pete's first year celebrating a traditional Halloween in the US. Traditional = trick-or-treating and carving a pumpkin. We carved our pumpkin Friday night -- well I should say Pete carved it. I showed him the general idea, and he did it in no time flat. I remembered pumpkins taking FOREVER when we were little. Guess it's like most things when you grow up -- time goes really fast. Anyway, our jack-o-lantern looks awesome!

On Saturday we had two parties to attend: one was a party/baby shower for friends of friends who wanted us to meet so we could know other people nearby with babies. I made them an awesome baby blanket (if I do say so myself!).

Both parties called for costumes on the babies (thankfully not us, as we agreed we are TERRIBLE at coming up with costumes). We dressed little Miss in her costume, which was a flower. We were thrilled to get a bee goody bag from friends for Lucia's birthday (by coincidence!), and her ensemble was complete. I was nervous she wouldn't tolerate the hat/hood, but she seemed to do great. We put her in a long-sleeve onesie, just in case it was cold. She refused to wear the matching booties, so fine, we let her wear her polka dot shoes. They actually looked adorable with the rest of it.

See? At the second party we went trick-or-treating, and it was great fun. Lucia is just thrilled to walk down the sidewalk by herself; I think she would have been perfectly happy if we just did that all night. But we taught her to walk up to houses, to ring the doorbell or knock, and say "Trick Or Treat!" and of course, Thank You after getting candy. Towards the end, she just wanted to go into each house and explore (uh, no Lucia). We didn't let her eat any of her candy (allergies, and well, who NEEDS to eat candy?), but I ate 2 Reese's Peanut Butter cups for old time's sake. Dangit those things are still good. Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Privacy Settings

I opened the blog back up for a day just in case people didn't get a chance to email Pete to ask for permission, as some of you have mentioned. You can email me (Heather) at runhlrun@gmail.com or Pete at drazdiak@sbcglobal.net to get into it. From there, either use a google account OR sign in as a guest to view the blog.

More pictures from Halloween to come...

Trick or Treat!

TrickOrTreat