TWO months old!

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Taryn turned 2 months old last week. She went to the doctor for her 2 month check up. Here are her stats:
Length ~ 24in (2 FEET!)
Weight ~ 13lbs 8oz
Head ~ 16in
In the 97th percentile for length & weight!
Taryn likes:
Her bouncy seat (still! yay!)
The lights & music of her Baby Einstein mat
The outdoors
Sitting up like a big girl or standing (with lots of assistance)
The "Mommy & Taryn" game
Ceiling fans, light fixtures and frames on the wall
When Daddy tickles her neck
Mat & chat with Grandma Mary
She is cautiously enjoying her baths
Her little eyelashes are getting long! Her hair is a color that I thought only came in a box of Clairol. It is a reddish color that glows in the sunlight. Her eyes are still big & blue, but I'm wondering if they will start to change in the coming months. She is smiling more & more with each day. Now she will even smile when she is drowsy. Her stomach has slimmed down a little, but it's still pretty circular! We now see glimpses of her neck when she is holding her head up. She has moved up to size 1-2 diapers. Her newborn clothes are long gone and the 0-3 months are soon to join them!

Happy Birthday Lee!

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It's a little late, but, hey, I'm busy these days!

Thursday was Lee's 29th birthday! Seriously teetering on 30 there! I may have reminded him of that once or twice. And he quickly reminded me that I am only 6 months and 6 days behind him. DOH! We celebrated with dinner at Bruno's with Lee's family and my mom. Then we drank some Bud Light with my mom. Party down!
And here is the little bundle of joy that makes us REALLY feel old these days! Although, we HAVE been awake 3am more in the last 2 months than a year of college... Ok, maybe not, but it's probably coming close!

And here is how many outtakes it took to get one picture! How many months before she learns to cheese it up for the camera?

Save big money at Menards

Today while watching tv, Lee pointed out that Menards is doing something new with their commercials. They show different Menards products, then says where they are made. (All in the USA.) It is pretty cool. They even gave a little history about how one product was first used on American military vehicles back in the day. Hopefully it encourages people to buy American. That seems to be getting harder and harder to do these days!

2nd Generation

The other day I stuck Taryn in one of my dresses from when I was a babe. She wasn't super happy about it... Plus, the neck of the dress was so tight on her that I couldn't button it all the way up without it strangling her. But, it was still cute to see! Very girly!

My Man Mitch

On Friday, I headed down to Indy for lunch with the governor, Mitch Daniels. It was basically just a chance for everyone to pat themselves on their backs for giving us money to become teachers. The lunch was in a gym/lunchroom and the accoustics were SO bad we couldn't understand a thing that the governor or anyone else said. We just kind of laughed when everyone else laughed and clapped when everyone else clapped. The most interesting part of the day for me was realizing one thing about our governor... HE IS SHORT!

Pic above is the Woodrow Wilson Fellows of Purdue with shorty Governor Mitch Daniels.

2 down 1 to go...

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I have finished up 2 of my 3 summer classes now. Just 1 left! It lasts the next 3 weeks and then I get 3 weeks off! WOOHOO! It's kind of like I get a little bit more maternity leave 7 weeks later.

Taryn is almost 2 month old. Hard to believe. She is starting to smile a ton, which is quite entertaining to Lee & I.

This weekend is a boring one. I had two papers to turn in for my class and Lee has a huge project for his class. SO, it's a weekend full of homework. Good times... To add to the fun... I'm sick. No voice this morning, my throat is on fire... Gotta love getting sick on the weekend.

We're about to fire our realtor and hire a new one. Our house has been on the market for 4 months and we have had 2 showings. Major ouch. I know the market sucks, but that is really bad! I am still praying that it decides to sell soon so we can move down to Lafayette and get rid of the darn commute!!

Bad Boys Bad Boys...

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So, we called the cops tonight...

This whole evening, a car has been driving around our neighborhood. It was suspicious looking, two-toned with a spoiler. So, Lee and I both saw it about a dozen times. Then, I noticed that it had parked across the street from us. When a car would come, the suspicious car would turn on its lights and drive a little, then turn around and go back to the same spot. We were extra concerned because I think the bus driver across the street is out of town.

SO, finally, we called the DeMotte Police. Found out that we don't live IN DeMotte, so we called the Jasper Co. Sherriff. (Meanwhile, Lee got the shotgun loaded. We thought we might have to go all Gran Torino on them.) I described the vehicle and gave our address. Dispatch said they had already gotten a report of the same car. She asked when the last time we saw it was and I said "I'm looking at it right now." So, she said she would send someone.

Right after hanging up, our Mexican neighbors, the Gonzalez', got home and talked to the people in the car and the car pulled into their driveway. Hmmm. Within probably 5 minutes, a cop car came through the neighborhood with his spotlight checking yards. He saw the suspicious car and pulled in and talked to them. About 5 minutes later, another cop car showed up. Nice response sheriff!

So, at the end of it, we feel like racial profilers because we reported guests of our Mexican neighbors (1 of 2 non-white families in the neighborhood) to the cops. Lee said the Gonzalez' are probably like "F-ing white people." But, in our defense, they were acting shady as hell. And we're not the only racial profilers in the neighborhood since the car had already been reported!

We are glad, though, that we had a dry run of calling the police around here. We know to call the county sheriff and not the town police. And at least they seem to have a quick response!!

Happy 4th of July

Yesterday we rolled down to Monticello, IN for the annual 4th of July celebration on "beautiful" Lake Freeman. Actually, I dumped Lee off at the lake and Taryn & I went in to Lafayette to hang with my mom. Since Taryn isn't allowed to wear sunscreen or be in the sun... And she is too little to wear a life jacket and go on a boat... There really isn't much for her to do at the lake. Which means there isn't much for ME to do either.

We had a good day with Grandma Mary** and had lunch at Pepe's. Mmmm. I had my first dacquiri in like 11 months and I think I got a little buzz!

I headed up to the lake in the evening and we had some friends over to watch the fireworks. They were your typical fireworks. I got Taryn to sleep before the fireworks started and she managed to sleep through them until 1am, which is a huge bonus! Everyone went to bed at 1am except for Lee who decided to go get idiotically drunk with the neighbors. We're definitely slowing down! Back in the day, 1am would find us on a booze cruise on the pontoon in the middle of the lake. Oh how times change.

Speaking of, there's a baby waking up and she's going to want to eat... NOW!

** Side story: My mom initially had some trouble realizing that she is now GRANDMA. So, when Taryn was first born she kept referring to herself as Aunt Mary. That finally progressed to Aunt Grandma. I think now she has finally figured it out and she just refers to herself as Grandma!

Amish

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For my "multicultural education" class, we have to do a project on a group of people. My group chose to do the Amish. I wanted to do nudists, but my group members turned bright red at the mention of a nudist, so that was a no go...

Last Friday, we headed up to Amish Acres in Nappanee, IN. It was a little hot and a little boring. No rollercoasters or anything. Although, they do apparently have AWESOME food. This is the place that sold the meat & cheese.

Taryn... Not impressed with the Amish.

Apparently, Amish people don't like having their picture taken. So, Lee and I sat in our car "inconspicuously" snapping pics as they went by in the horse & carriage. It took us awhile to get this sweet shot! Unfortunately, we didn't get any pics of the Amish people on their bikes!

These ads make me giggle...