Changes

This weekend we started another house project. We have had a hideous fluorescent 4 foot by 4 foot light box in our kitchen that we have hated ever since we moved in. So for our Christmas present we decided that we should probably have them redone. We went out a couple weeks ago and bought all the stuff that our buddy Shenan's electrician friend said we needed for our project. Thankfully, he (the electrician-Rene) also said he would do all the wiring and such for us with his wingman helping. The three boys worked all day and were able to get the kitchen and the babies room, light and fan, installed. Mike now has the bathrooms to finish and we are 1 light and a 20 foot ladder away from having completely replaced all the lighting fixtures in our house.

Old Light

Tada...new lights

Mike in Attic above babies room

Tada...new light and fan

While the boys worked...I played a little...we put the console table in the entry way a week or so ago, and then I tried my hand at some decorating.

Some of babies bedding

Stella Update

Stella is on the mend! After a couple down weeks with her foot, it is fully healed and we didn't need to do surgery on her toe. Her pad and webbing healed great, I think we were the ones that suffered feeling awful putting her foot into iodine to soak and cleaning it! Yucky-we both hope this is the last "incident" along those lines.

As far as where we stand with the daycare (as many of you have asked) they are not "technically" responsible for her injury. Even thought it would have been nice if they would have helped out with the bill (they did offer us free daycare for a fraction of what the total bill was)!
Regardless, we decided to take her back and have had her there 2 times since. Just to help us and her, although we (or I) have not yet crossed the hump of her being in kennel, so she goes and plays with her friends and then comes home during "nap time." I am pretty torn about if she is safe or not there...the owners really like her...but we are still looking for a new place for her to play for awhile.

On Wednesday we brought her in for her 2nd eye surgery. The first one semi-worked and contained the tumor in a circle area, however the tumor was growing in depth. Mike and I struggled with whether or not to do the second surgery, but decided that it was best for her and we would go ahead and do it. We do think that this is the last one (I say that now, but we will see) I even told the opthamologist that this was the last time we wanted to put her through this surgery. She came home and had a lot of happy juice left in her! Poor girl had a hard time walking without bonking her head or butt on something, standing to potty, and looked plain miserable. Again, I feel worse for us because after she woke up on Thursday she was ready to go, and Mike and I are left trying to entertain her. Our orders are to not let her run, play tug, be in direct sunlight, or bonk her head. uffddaaa!!! Thursday morning the dr. was pleased with her tumor's shrinkage, and we have a 2nd follow up on Tuesday, wish all of us luck!

Tropics in a Mountain House?

On Saturday Mike and I helped our friend Bo celebrate his 30th birthday! His girlfriend planned a weekend "summer" getaway, complete with tiki torches and all the tropical fixins... I however didn't have any appropriate attire :-) Enjoy the pics and the BELLY!

Happy New Year!

2010 ALREADY? We rang in the New Year by ordering in takeout, watching Travis Pastrana "fly a car," and then heading to a local dive bar to see a few friends. We then ducked out about 11:30 so we could make it home to watch the countdown safely on our couch! Hope everyone has a Happy New Year...I know Mike and I are looking forward to a lot in 2010!

Needle Point

Mike's mom needle points her kids ornaments every year. These ornaments were given to Mike before our wedding as he was now going to be having a tree of his own with his wife. The snowman was an ornament she had started a while ago for each child and then the wedding cake was the one that we got this year for our wedding. The pictures don't do the ornaments justice-they are beautiful, very detailed, and so special to us.

27 Weeks (I'm behind) Baby Update

Baby belly at 27 weeks...(28 weeks is on Wednesday) all seems to be going well in there. He continues to play kung fu and on Saturday night (Jan 2, 2009) Mike and I were laughing watching him make my stomach "jump." His pushes, kicks, and who knows what else are getting stronger each day. The best is that he now will consistently kick Mike when he talks to him...that is my therapist talking CONSISTENTLY!

Mike and I have also started our birth classes, they are a little "non traditional" so we will let you know how they go. On Saturday Friday we went and picked up our crib and changing table...the baby room looks like a baby room now...I will keep updating as we continue to "nest." The curtains are just plain blue, I got them before Christmas but didn't want to spoil the gender. I am going to keep his room "animal" themed, as I feel this is my only opportunity to do it cutsy as from here on out it will be trains, cars, trucks, sports, or some other BOY theme...maybe I am wrong but that is my thought right now.

The "Surprise"

We finally told our families that we are expecting a baby BOY!

After spending the first 4 months thinking that we weren't going to find out...we caved! So at our 21 week ultrasound on November 20th we found out that "baby" was a boy! This confirmed my suspicion all along and made Mike smile from ear to ear! We were most excited that our baby was healthy, but it is very exciting to us that we will add a boy to our family (we are all girls there-so another male to help out Mike will be great).

We told by wrapping a little blue piggy bank that said "Baby Boy" up and presenting it as a Christmas present from the baby to its grandparents for them to start thinking about saving for college (joking or maybe hinting). Both mothers opened the package and were a bit in shock and it went something like this Grandma McConachie "oh it's a Christmas ornament, it's blue, what does this mean, (I said read it), it's a boy, you found out, ohahhhhahahhahaha" Grandma Laschen was much different, she said "a piggy bank, but a blue bank, I will put my quarters in it, wait it's blue does that mean its a boy? do you know, do you know....ohhhaaaaahhhhhahahah." This was the main reason that Mike and I found out...we wanted to tell our families "something" about the baby in person and we couldn't have asked for better reactions! We have them on video and have watched them over and over...such special memories!

Baby Laschen has some very excited grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, and uncles! 93 days until our due date...

Stelly Belly ***warning graphic pictures****

Where to begin....
On Wednesday, I called daycare on a feeling that I should check in, and found out that Stella had just left for the vet because during their nap/lunch time "something" had happened.
Their best guess was that she and another dog (her friend Miles-that she was staying with while Mike and I were away) had fallen asleep and their feet had slipped under their kennel into an aggressive dogs kennel. Both Stella and Miles had scrapes, he didn't need vet attention, but they believed that the dog had grabbed a nold of Stella's foot and she couldn't get it out of his mouth and the other kennel so she was pretty chewed up.
This was not an easy thing for this mother bear momma to hear being a thousand miles away and with her eye surgery coming up (we might be pushing it back.) So our neighbor sent us this picture of Stella on Wednesday night after the vet cleaned her up and put a bandage on. They also sent her home with antibiotics and pain/anti-inflammatory meds.
Well.... today Mike and I got home to a very excited puppy and her very happy mommy and daddy to be home with her. We also had to do a re-check at the vet. So to make it as untramatic as possible we took her bandage off at home and were shocked and amazed at just how bad it looked. Mike and I both described it as it looking like her leg went into the meat grinder. The vet is pleased with how all the scrapes are doing on the top of her leg, but is very concerned about the puncture in between her toe. It is more swollen than she would like so she sent us home, unbandaged with a second antibiotic and more anti-inflammatory/pain meds. She also has instructed us to soak her foot 2x per day in a diluted iodine solution-not an easy task with a 110 lbs puppy who doesn't want to stand up and needs to have her owie soaked. 1x down, 13 more to go :-) We have another re-check on Monday-so please send all your healthy healing wishes for Stella our way...we all could use it!

Holiday Adventures in the Midwest

Well the Christmas break of 2009 will probably be best remembered for us as the Christmas of the BLIZZARD that cancelled most of our plans!

We arrived safely on Saturday morning in Minneapolis, headed to Mike's parents and enjoyed a dinner and dance party at his house that evening.

Sunday I spent the day with Tiff, we ate and caught up, before making an adventure trip to Babies R Us.
Monday we were off to Cloquet to spend time with my family and drop some surprises too! We went to dinner at Blackwoods (a favorite of mine because of the dinner rolls) and then headed home. We are going to go to Bentlyville, but I have become soft and it was a bit too cold for me to even think about attempting to walk around outside longer than to or from a car or building! We did however watch a ship come in as Mike had never seen the lift bridge in action before!

Tuesday Mike and I bummed around Duluth and then headed home to meet up with some of my friends. So hard to see everyone especially during the holidays, but we made our best attempt! I got to meet up with Katie and Lindsay, both expecting babies as well in 2010 (if 2009 was the year of the wedding, 2010 will be the year of babies). Mike and my mom went to the Lost Tavern for a drink and then we met up for some Mexican Train.
Wednesday we were trying to beat the storm and headed back to Minneapolis where we would stay for the rest of the trip (we didn't make it to Fargo on Christmas day which was the plan).
After some power shopping at the MOA-we started to get the snow and I called to check in on Stella-whoa nelly was that a call... (more one her on a later blog post).

Christmas Eve is the big Laschen celebration so after prepping in the morning we headed to Christmas Eve Mass. Dinner this year was a little smaller as well, all because of the Blizzard! At dinner the Laschen's got their "surprise."

Christmas day we all got up and opened our gifts from Santa, before being lazy the rest of the day and then playing Laschen Family Trivia that night.

Saturday my family came down and we did our Christmas-So different than at my Grandma's house! But it was nice to spend time with my family too. We then went and had dinner and Mike's parents meet up with us for a drink.

Sunday my mom and I went baby shopping, while the boys went hunting shopping and we met up for Lunch on Grand Ave.

Monday we came home...whew...what an weird Christmas this year! I hope the weather cooperates in 2010!

Christmas morning was very different this year for me. For the first time since I can remember, maybe ever, I was not in Fargo at my Grandma's house :-(.

He came, he skiied, he fished...and he went!

What is this title you ask...it is just one of Larson's annual visits to Denver!

He and Mike were able to get in 2 ski days, fish, and we were also able to hit the town 2 nights in a row. Friday we headed out to LoHi Steakhouse to meet up with Troy and Molly (who was also in from MN) then we were off to play shuffleboard at Patrick Carrols.

Saturday after a day of fishing we headed to the Atomic Cowboy to help Shenan celebrate his birthday. Sunday we rested and all got ready for the work week. The phrase "welcome to the Thunderdome" also was invented...yikes what an exhausting weekend! This was the 1 and only time that this mama wants to be out late night at a bar...I slept most of Sunday away!