Monday, December 22, 2008



Ingrit and family are home from visiting David's family down in southern WI. A good time was had by all.

Ingrit really seems to like looking at herself in the mirror in her Grandpa Tom biker duds. She looks totally bad ass baby...watch out class of 2026...she doesn't know what she's rebelling against yet, but she'll take whatever you've got.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Getting ready for Christmas


The Watkins and Herfel's have been getting ready for the merriment. This weekend will bring Dave's family and a drive to southern Wisconsin. Ingrit has outgrown her infant car seat and will be riding in style in her new big girl car seat. The infant seat is made for babies up to 30 pounds and Ingers is less than 17, but her head reaches nearly the top of the seat and her legs hang over the edge of the seat. Time for new digs.


Buying a car seat is really hard. There must be a 100 models to choose from and you can easily start to feel like a bad parent for not buying the $300 model--It must be safer, right?? Not so according to my research, but the snack tray and cup holders were much classier, the fabric was much cuter, and the name felt good to say. I so never ever thought I'd have brand affinity for anything related to transporting children...handbags, toothpaste, deodorant, shoes, facial tissue? alright, I get all that, but a car seat? I never woulda dreamt it.


We're spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my family at my folks' house. (Super excited to see Auntie Kathy and Cousin Erin in from San Francisco!) Jack always looks forward to hanging out with Buddy and Teddy too.


We've had to set aside our commitment to buy nothing new to buy our Christmas presents. I think we could have done it if we'd planned ahead better, but oh well. At least on a daily basis we've reduced our consumption and waste. Not to brag or anything, but we have like one kitchen-sized bag of trash a week nowadays. Incredible how much packaging goes around EVERYTHING new and how little goes around anything USED.

Sunday, December 7, 2008





Ingrit loves animals, so long as they're large. We have a new expression. It's for terror, scream bloody murder terror. "Go weiner dog". Ingrit screamed the realest scream I've ever heard at the sight of my cousin's two mini dachshunds on Thanksgiving.












Ingrit hung out with Grandpa and Grandma Watkins yesterday. We played photo shoot with her in her holiday party dress.
She's got her first cold. Yesterday she was sneezing and runny nose all day. Today she feels much better. Hardly any symptoms left.
David learned about plumbing this week helping Dad W help us with a plugged up issue in our laundry tub and main drain.
Getting ready for Christmas, I took my first trip into Target today since pledging to buy nothing new. That was hard. Really hard. I wanted to buy a couple really cool toys on sale for Ingers. I also wanted to buy pajamas. I resisted. Since that man was killed by wal mart customers trying to buy tv's my resolve to not buy it has really strengthened. It's so sad. I'm hoping that 6 months into this experiment it'll be something I don't have to think about anymore. It'll become second nature.

Right now my biggest challenge is a secret santa at work. They capped the dollar amount to $15, but I'm having serious trouble figuring out what to get for my person! Food, kleenex?? I think I'll be raiding the thrift store tomorrow...good luck to me.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Baby you can drive my car



Ingrit's digging the bath time nowadays. She outgrew her infant tub and has moved into the kitchen sink lined with a towel. Looking at her long legs, we're thinking this isn't going to work for long!
First Thanksgiving went well. I don't think Ingrit's really into other babies though. All she wanted to do with her 8 month old cousin was to take his pacifier away from him. Funny because I couldn't for the life of me get her to take one when I tried! Oh well. Guess it's true, you want what someone else has or the grass is greener. Whatever.
Favorite foods?
sweet potatoes
squash
chicken with applesauce
cherries
banana orange medley (gerber)
She's sitting up pretty and on her own now. Nowhere near crawling, but I think she's realized it's a primitive form of transportation. She's more into driving. She test drove some cars and decided on a scion xb. Daddy and Mommy like it too.
Other favorite mode of travel is a side rider position in the maya wrap.
Favorite pals?
lamb raddle
silly monkey
eyeore
Jack (the real dog)
Two teeth to report! Front center bottom choppers. They're so sharp and straight and white. They're really sharp. Really sharp. Sharp.
Grandma Bonnie, Ingrit, a friend or mine from work, her two kids and I went to the Macy's auditorium Christmas display. The theme was a Day in the Life of the Elves. It was cute. Ingrit sat on Santa's lap.















Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Twin Cities Free Market


Super cool new find. Twin Cities Free Market. You list things you don't want and things you do want and so do other re-users and you get together to give and get.


I responded to a listing for some cloth diapers this morning. There are so many things on this list, even things like counter tops and cabinets left over from remodeling projects, cedar fencing, basketball hoops, grills, empty coffee cans, furniture, etc...


Monday, November 10, 2008

Little Doll
















Ingrit's first professional portraits. She would NOT smile!

Watch out Karl's mom!



Ingrit is now officially riding along in a Maya wrap. I got some pointers from a woman at the attachment parenting meet-up last week. We just got back from grocery shopping. It went really well. Ingrit is now starting to want to grab everything she sees. The Maya wrap kept her far enough away from things for me to relax and close enough for her to feel in the action. And she does like the action.
Grandma W stopped by last night (and woke up baby!! jk) and Ingrit reached for her and smiled. It was pretty darn cute.
Another first for Ingers this week--she can sit unsupported, if she wants to, for a couple of seconds. I suspect she could roll over onto her tummy now, but she has no desire to do that.
Let's see, she's also playing the guitar. Yep, Daddy fingers the chords and Ingers strums with her feet. She grabs the strings with her hands, so she's learning on her toes first.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Culinary Art



The "greener" I get, the GREENER Ingrit gets. Little Girl loves her some spinach and butternut squash puree!

Grandpa and Grandma Herfel came over for lunch on Thursday and got to see Ingrit really chow down. She lets me feed her for awhile and then she'll grab the spoon to do it herself. Very independent this one's going to be.

By Thanksgiving she should be able to have some turkey with us. And cranberries. And sweet potatoes. And oh my...she's just a growing person.

Ingrit had her 6 month well baby check up and she looks like a million bucks. The doctor said so. She's 27" long (88th percentile) and 15 lb 9 oz (38th percentile). We go to see the kidney specialist again on 11/11 for an ultrasound and check in. We're hoping her urinary retention has just disappeared. That's likely to be the case. (Prenatal tests showed fluid retention in one kidney and dilation. At 4 weeks she had a major day of testing and it appeared at that time not to be affecting her. I think the doctor used the term "stretchy kidney." He wasn't worried, but he did want us back for testing in 6 months.)