Autumn Hustle & Bustle

So far this fall I have admittedly been a crappy blogger. I spent all summer hearing about the inevitable "off-season lull" at work (meaning when the bite in the air is too much for most motorcycle riders) but despite the near-freezing temps I am still waiting for the promised lull and the lazy days that I think should go with it. So now that the baby is down for a snooze it is time for me to catch up on the last month and change, starting with the arrival of yet another baby into our friends-family! Little Miss Alana Bansemar made her debut on October 8 to proud parents Shawn & Melissa and big doggy brothers Brewer & JoBu.

Mel, me, and the star, Alana


Hello little one! Welcome to our crazy world.

Melissa & Alana had excellent timing as it just so happened that Kyle, Robin, and Miles were in town that same weekend for a wedding we were all attending in Illinois. So the Kroenings and the Maios all piled into the Pilot and headed to West Bend to greet the adorable new addition. Genevieve and Miles were pretty well behaved considering they were surrounded by stuff that they shouldn't touch (torture!!). After the visit we stopped at Culvers to feed the hungry baby bellies and by the time we got home it was snooze-central. And to anyone in the market, we can assure you that four adults and two giant car seats can fit in one Pilot. It's not graceful, but it works.

One daddy in...


another daddy in...


...and two babies out.

As the little ones slept we parents went out to Matt and my league bowling date. That's right, yet ANOTHER addition to the list of thingsIsworeI'dneverdo. We're partnered up with a guy Matt works with, Dan, and his wife, Angie. They're fun people and it's actually a pretty good way for us to force ourselves to get out together once a month. Anyhoo Grandma & Grandpa Maio volunteered to watch the kiddos while we were out (thanks!!) so Kyle & Robin came with us and graciously volunteered to taste-test the yummy bar food while we showed off our lack of bowling skills. When we returned home the kids were fed and ready for a bath. Matt protested having them in the bath together and warned Miles, "I'm watching you". Oh that silly daddy. They were so cute together in the tub and we captured plenty of future blackmail photos.

Hey, yours is different


Fun in the tub!


Who can catch it?

It's always fun to get together with our friends, but now that we all have kids it's also nice to get a reality check and realize that we are not the only ones who are totally drained by the end of the day.

Cozy pillow. Cozy blanket. Cozy brewski.

On Sunday we loaded back up in the car and headed to Illinois for the wedding of Lisa & Joe (a former Raider teammate of Kyle and Matt's). None of us had been to a Sunday wedding of late, but it actually worked out beautifully because Saturday's weather was total garbage and Sunday's was sunny and crisp. The ceremony was outdoors but blissfully brief, and we later found out that the lovely bride had long underwear on under her gorgeous gown. The things we do for good photos! We headed inside for a cocktail reception followed by an early dinner and were back on the road by 6:30. Actually worked out perfectly for those of us with kids in tow. There was a little boy there who was just a few days older than G, and his great-auntie was borderline obsessed with getting photos of the two of them together. She even took pictures of Matt, G, and me dancing at the reception. Hi, stalker. Anyway the Kroenings stayed until Monday morning and had a snowy welcome home in Rochester. Yuck! We haven't gotten any flakes here but I know it's not far off.

Super stylish


Coming soon to a holiday greeting card near you...


The happy couple!


G and her buddy


There's cake at this thing? Hooray!


G and her favorite dance partner

Anyway since then we've done a lot, including wrapping up our first series of swimming lessons at the Y. Unfortunately the last class was the same day that Genevieve got her tubes so obviously we were MIA that night, but otherwise G and her dad headed to their class every week in September and October. She did pretty well and towards the end really seemed to start to understand what 'kick!' meant. We also did a lot to practice making the kiddos wait to get in the pool until mom or dad is ready, which I'm sure will serve us well at the lake next year. Assuming we get to swim next year. The best part of swimming lessons was that Genevieve was so exhausted by the end of each class that she would fall asleep in the car and be out for the rest of the night. Love that!

Yes, she was actually hollering across the entire pool.


Going after an illusive toy


This pool is fun!

And now that the tubes adventure is behind us, we've been getting ready for G's second Halloween! Last year she was barely 6 weeks old and couldn't hold her head up. This year we'll get to watch those wobbly legs walk down the sidewalk in her little costume. Amazing. It was lovely this morning so I took her out to grab a few spooky shots in a little dress I got on uber-clearance last year.

A little apprehensive of walking where she can't really see what's underfoot.


Maybe if I just stand here and look cute mom will pick me up


Ha! Got her


Gimmie candy!


My favorite shot of the morning


The vicious attack poodle, making sure no squirrel even THINK about coming near us

Totally Tubular

Baby's First Surgery was today (although I don't see a page for that in the baby book, weird) and I'm happy to report that everything went just fine. We were originally scheduled for a 6:45 arrival and 7:45 procedure, but yesterday we were rescheduled to an 8:45 arrival. That meant two additional hours without food or drink, which made me cringe but what can you do? We left the house at about 8:15 and arrived right on time. Check in was a breeze and they had plenty of toys for her to play with and keep her mind off of wondering where the heck breakfast was. We went back to pre-op at about 9:00 and changed her into her little surgery pajamas.

Not really the look I was going for, mom


Ooh, this looks like something I could destroy


Someone let me outta here!


Thank you, distractions

At 9:30 or so they gave her a dose of happy juice which made her loopy as all get out. The intention was to make it less traumatic for her when I handed her over, but I had to wonder where my dose of that was because when the nurse came in to take her it was pretty rough. I held it together but I won't mind if I never have to do that again.

I walked out to the waiting room, set my stuff down, and got a coffee. Before I could even reach for the newspaper at the next table the nurse called for me and said, "the doctor wants to see you". I thought great, something's gone wrong and he can't do the procedure and this is going to be a huge disaster and oh my god the insurance is going to be a nightmare. So I went into the consult room and about two minutes later he walked in, sporting the blue scrubs, and proclaimed that it was done and she was waking up. What? I knew it would be fast but holy cats, that was unreal. A few minutes later they let me back in recovery. She was still loopy but awake enough to be super irritated. I brought some of her favorite books so we hung out in the recovery room for a while while she came out of her cloud. She was still cranky and whining when the nurse said they had some graham crackers and did we want some? Uh, yeah we do, on the double! They changed G's life and in between the first and second one I'm convinced that she said, "cracker". 'Atta girl.

We drove home and while I thought she would be famished she basically ate three bites of a banana and was done. So we played in her room and after about 30 minutes she was ready for a snooze. She went down like a dream and slept from noon-4, a definite record for this non-sleeper. When she got up, dadddy was home and life was back to normal. We have a check up in two weeks but in the meantime thanks for all the good thoughts and calls, and hopefully this is the end of the wretchedly infected ear-road for this little one!

First Steps

There's lots to catch up on from the last couple of weeks, which I promise to update on later this week. But first a video of Genevieve's first few real steps, with special guest star Poodle McIrritating. Enjoy!

On The Go

Among the piles of fun stuff G received for her first birthday was a proper push toy from Melissa & Shawn. No more laundry basket for this fancy girl! Genevieve loves it and has been motoring her away back and forth from the living room to the kitchen, making pit stops in the guest bedroom to dig through my purse and her diaper bag. As an aside, she's showing an early fondness for lipstick.

After I picked her up at daycare yesterday I decided to take her outside to give the new ride a spin. It was pretty brisk but she had a ball.

Out of my way, mother!


Let's see what this baby does off-roading


Helping Dad park the car




I love to play outside!

In other news, we have scheduled Genevieve to get tubes on October 20th. She's on the tail end of her fifth ear infection in the last six months, and as our pediatrician put it, we haven't even hit winter yet. The procedure takes about ten minutes, and although she'll be under general anesthesia they won't even put a breathing tube in. Our ENT specialist said that it takes one good nap to get the anesthesia out of their system and that she'll be ready to go the next day. So boo for surgery but yay for the hope that they take and Genevieve doesn't have to deal with the pain of ear infections anymore (or the other lovely side effects of chronic ear infections, such as loss of hearing or the expense of gallons of antibiotics). Here's to ears!

Last but not least, we are so excited to add another baby to our friends-family! Addison Karen was born on September 26. Mom, dad, and big brother Ethan are all doing well and we cannot wait to meet the adorable addition - way to go, Harms' family!