6 Months

Wow! 6 months seems like a milestone and should be celebrated! We may not have had a big ole party, but Aubrey got her first tastes of nummies thanks to her nanas and papas. Nana B introduced her to ice cream, and she loved it; while celebrating Papa Mousel's birthday she got a taste of frosty, which she gobbled up as well.

When looking at her stats it might seem that all we feed her is nummies, but no she is just a healthy, growing little girl.

Height:  27 3/4 in. (97th%)
Weight: 18lbs (82nd%)
Head: 17 1/4in (82nd%)

Daddy got to bring Aubrey to her wellness check this time around, and he said she was a champ. Taking 4 shots including the flu shot, which we will have to go back in a month for the booster. Barbie said she did fabulously at daycare after the appointment as well. Other than a lingering, slight fever that night, Aubrey seemed to take her check-up in stride.

A couple developments this month include:

*Sitting up completely on her own for long periods of time. She will reach and play sitting up. If she falls over it is normally forward because she is reaching for something. Because she sits up so well, she very rarely is on her tummy so no crawling positions or moving of the like.

*She is now eating "num-nums," the wafer like food that dissolves easily. She can feed those to herself and really seems to like it.

*Aubrey is now sleeping in her crib without the swaddler. Most times we find her snuggled up at the top of her crib on her tummy.

*No teeth, but has shown signs that they are moving around in there. She battled a pretty bad diaper rash for most of the month. The only thing that seemed to alleviate some of the redness was the Dreft bath, even though she was slathered up with Desitin, Triple Paste, or Butte Paste the entire month!!

*Continues to love her excersaucer, the birdies that hang in her infant carrier, and the pacifier as her favorite things to play with.

*Lights up when anyone walks in the room, but she especially loves her big sissy!

Aubs and Izzy...BFFs!

5 Months

Our little Aubrey bird is is ever growing and changing. She simply delights us when we are least expecting it...like when we are so wrapped up in our busy schedule and we look over at her and she staring at us with her big bright smile.

Lately, we have been working on sitting up on our own. Some days she can sit and balance herself like she has been doing it forever and other days she wibbles and wobbles and flops right over. I guess we need to do a little more rigorous strength training routine!

Since she is rolling over in all directions, we have known we needed to stop swaddling her at night. Tough transition! Removing the swaddle did not work in the crib, so right now Aubrey is back in the cradle without the swaddle and doing better. Soon we will move her back to the crib without the swaddle and hope it goes a little smoother.

Of course we have an abundance of toys for Aubrey to play with, but just as many parents find out the best toys are not toys at all. Aubrey's favorite "toy" right now is her pacifier. She chews on it, gets her thumb stuck in it, sucks on it the opposite direction, and soon enough will find it the right way. She also loves sitting in the excersaucer if mama or dada are in the room. Yep, she does not like it if we leave her in the room alone, if she notices. Sometimes she is just too busy playing.

Aubrey has loved the transition to spoon food. Just like Isabel, Aubrey was so interested in what we were putting in our mouths that when it came time for her chance she literally gobbled it up. Right now, Aubrey eats three meals and four 6oz bottles in a day. It has been really nice as she no longer takes a bottle at home before Barbie's because most mornings she would futz around and not finish her bottle...she just wasn't waking up hungry. Being on a "big girl" eating schedule has been super nice for home and daycare. Foods she is eating are: rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, green beans, peas, corn, bananas, apples, and peaches.

Aubrey is talking in spurts, which is very similar to Isabel. She will be super chatty for a while then won't say much for quite sometime. She mostly makes squawking type sounds and will get really loud. And of course, she felt like her voice needed to be heard loud and clear during the homily at Aidan's Baptism Mass...maybe it had something to do with nature of the sermon. Since our blog is not a political forum, we will just gloss over that one.  

Lastly, Aubrey loves Isabel and Isabel loves Aubrey. It is the sweetest of sweet exchanges to watch them smile, giggle, talk, and just generally interact with each other! Love, love, love.

Izzy Hop

Back in April my assistant brewer helped me plant some hop rhizomes.  Expectations were low, as first year hop plants usually do not produce a lot of hop cones.  The goal this year was to develop a good root base in hopes the next year we would be able to harvest a small crop.

Well Isabel must have a green thumb because we had great luck with the hops.  We planted two varieties, Willamette and Cascade and both produced a very good first year crop.

A few weeks ago I harvested the Willamette for a fresh hop batch where the hops go right from the vine and into the kettle.  My assistant was as stoked as I was about our first hop pick. "Dada, hops, hops, hops!"

Two ounces were added to the beginning of the 60 minute boil for bittering.

What gives hops their magical super power?  The yellow dust in the picture below is called Lupulin and that is the secret sauce of hops.  Mmmm, Lupulin!  (It helps if you say that in a Homer Simpson voice)

 
After the 60 minute boil another four and a half ounces were added to hopefully give the beer a powerful hop aroma.  Without the prolonged affect of boiling, this hop addition should not impart any more bitterness to the beer.

The beer spent two and half weeks in primary and then was cold crashed in the fridge to end all fermentation and drop most of the sediment to the bottom of the fermenter.

Izzy Hop was bottled last week and should be ready to drink in another week or so.  It should resemble Fat Tire with more of a hop kick and hopefully a little resinny characteristic from the fresh hops.  I should probably save one for Isabel when she is old enough, but since it only weighs in at about 4.5% abv I don't think it will cellar that well.

Cheers!

4 Months...and Change

August 23rd has come and gone, yeah, yeah, it has been a couple weeks, but who is counting!  Our little Aubrey continues to be an unbelievably good baby, although our daycare provider may argue with that.  Apparently, Aubrey is testing Barb a bit to say the least.  She has been nothing but an angel for us and continues to be the happy go lucky, sleeping champ that she has been since she came home with us.

Along with her 4 month birthday Aubrey also had a checkup with the Dr.  Her current stats are as follows: weight: 15 lbs 9 oz (84%), length 26 1/4" (97%!), and her head is dwarfing Isabel's at 16 1/2" (72%).

Some new changes for Aubrey include moving to her crib in her own room, rolling over from back to front, giggling audibly, and spending more time in her "car" and exersaucer.  It is amazing that she is four months old already, but she is getting to that really fun age when babies are more mobile and expressive.

 

Isabel/Aubrey

First full day at Barbie's

Race Week

This Saturday I will be taking on the Chequamegon Fat Tire 40 for the second time.  Last year's race didn't go quite as planned, but I learned a lot and I am better prepared this year...well at least mentally as I have 273 fewer miles in now then I did at this time last year.

A couple weeks ago I did the Murphy Menace 50 mile mountain bike race at Murphy Hanrehan in preparation for Chequamegon.  Murphy has 11 miles of tight twisty singletrack.  It is a completely different animal than Chequamegon which consists mostly of cross country ski trails and fire roads.  In many ways Murphy is a harder race than Chequamegon is 1) It is all singletrack, 2) it is 5 laps of a course which is harder mentally than just being "out there" for 40 miles 3) the last time I checked 50 miles is longer than 40 miles 4) a certain kick ass bike shop sponsors this race and brings a lot of fast riders to the event...which means me, being slow, gets lapped.  It is physically impossible for me to get lapped in the point to point race that is Chequamegon...at least I hope 5) this list just seemed like it should have 5 points.

 Looks like a fun way to spend a Saturday

Overall the race went pretty well.  As previously stated I have not ridden quite as much as I had last year and more to the point I have hardly mountain biked at all.  My splits were faster than last year which is encouraging, especially considering some mileage was added to the trail since last year.  My achilles heal, cramps, did not set in until the end of the 3rd lap.  I was moving over to the side of the trail to let the eventual 3rd place rider get past me.  As I did so a rogue branch grabbed my front wheel.  As I was gracefully plunging to the ground my legs decided it was the perfect time to seize up.  I was crumpled over on the ground for a solid 5 minutes before the cramps let off enough that I could at least stand up and get back on the bike.  I had a mile back to the trailhead and I was 99% sure I was going to throw in the towel.  I suffered through cramps for 30 miles of this race last year and I didn't feel like doing it again.  As I spun through the remainder of the beginner loop the cramps loosend up and I stopped feeling sorry for myself.  I cruised through the start/finish chute and went out for lap 4.

Just as I started lap 4 mother nature decided to have a little fun with me and it started raining.  The first 2.4 miles of the trail is the beginner trail out in a meadow.  On a normal day I don't care much for this part of the trail because it is poorly designed and flows horribly.  It just isn't very fun compared to the rest of the trail which is superb, so after battling cramps at the end of lap 3 and now rain I was fighting another major mental battle to not call it a day at the junction of the beginner/intermediate trails.  A turn left and I would have a .5 mile ride to the trail head and a cooler full of beer and BSing with other racers, a turn to the right would be a mental victory, but would also be another 8 miles of racing, decreasing weather conditions and the inevitable moment when cramps would rear their ugly head again.  I went right.

Rain continued for the entirety of lap 4.  When you make the right hand turn off the beginner trail to the intermediate and later advanced sections of trail it is primarily in the woods, so the rain wasn't that big of a factor except for the rock gardens and wooden bridges which were becoming increasingly slick and dangerous.  Amazingly my legs felt pretty good and I was enjoying the lap.  During miles 7-8 of the lap the rain increased and trail conditions deteriorated quickly.  Things were getting slick and my tires were starting to pack up with mud.  I was becoming convinced that the race director would pull us off the trail to prevent significant trail damage.  At that point I was also hitting a pretty major wall.  I knew cramps were going to set in again soon and I didn't want to damage my legs significantly with Chequamegon coming up so quickly.  I nursed it through the rest of the lap and as I suspected racers were being pulled.

I was more then happy to end my day.  I had booked 40 miles of hard mountain biking, pushed through a couple mental blocks, experimented with some new nutrition/hydration strategies for Cheq and didn't destroy myself too badly that I would be off the bike for an extended period of time.

Since the Menace I have squeezed in a few more long distance road rides and added salt tablets to my cramp fighting strategy.  I think I am ready for Saturday...I hope.  There are a million things that will go through my head between now and the race, but all I can do now is go out and try to ride the race I want to ride.  With any luck my legs will cooperate and I will put in the time I am looking for.

5 Years

On Saturday, Butter and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. It is amazing how fast 5 years have gone by, but when you start adding up the moments and milestones that made up those five years it is hard to imagine a lifetime before it. You know life is sweet when you realize your "normal" is actually pretty extraordinary.

We started the day with a family trip to the Minnesota Zoo. Isabel loved the monkeys! But really who doesn't?! Aubrey was a rockstar in the Bjorn taking in as much of the animals as her little eyes could. After a pit stop at home for naps and showers, Isabel and Aubrey headed up to Nana and Papa's for a sleepover so Butter and I could go out for dinner and actually stay over in a hotel on our wedding night! For those that do not know, our room was given away on the actual night of our wedding so we slept at home...stunk at the time, but makes for a fun story now!

Butter gave me a beautiful necklace to match my "mom" ring that Isabel gave me for my first Mother's Day. He also made all the reservations needed for the night, which if you know me, is an awesome present in and of itself. I am a very lucky woman!

Cheers to the first five years, and wonderment to the many more to come!

Dance, Dance, Dance

Everyone wants to find their "thing," well dance is mine. From the time I was three, dance has been a part of my life. It has been a constant whether I was a student, competitor, performer, assistant, team member, captain, teacher, or coach. Because of dance, I became closer with my family, met my best friend, and connected me with people I never would have otherwise. It helped shape me and opened doors and opportunities beyond what I thought possible. Dance taught me determination, perseverance, and inner-strength. Dance gave me success, but it also gave me the chance to fail. Dance gave me passion. I was never the best or the brightest, but I loved it and when I had an opportunity I wanted to pass it on.

God gave me two little girls. I get to give them dance.

 Isabel started her first dance class last week! I was very nervous as it could have been disastrous. Refusal to go in the classroom, tears, peeling limbs off. You get the picture. Fortunately, it went much better than that. I did have to start the class with her, which I did not want to do, but she was not going to let go of my fingers and there were a couple other moms in the room as well. After she just sat there doing nothing while I very clumsily attempted to stretch with "Ms. Puffy", I asked her if she wanted mom to leave and she gave me a look that very clearly stated, "Get out mom, you are embarrassing me!" Once I left, she started doing what the teacher told her to do and really enjoying herself like I knew she would. At the end of class, she got a stamp and sticker, which solidified her fun and decided she would go back again.