Sunday, July 12, 2009

10 Months Old


Mena was way too busy looking at all the traffic to look at me when I put her in the swing on our front porch. She's now 10 months old. This morning our home scale said she weighs 20.6 pounds. Foods are going much better this time around. She's now eating peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, squash, pears, peaches, prunes, and applesauce. She's enjoying meal time. The daily milk of magnesia and probiotics are keeping things moving through her on a regular basis so that's working well. As you can see from my previous posts, she's now scooting around and we've taken our first family vacation. It's been a great month, but each month seems to be better than the last with her. It's kind of like Brad Paisley's song "I thought I loved you then" only "I thought we had fun then."
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Saturday, July 11, 2009

July 9th--Going Home

Mena did really well on the trip. She slept most of the way up there. The hotel crib was so itty-bitty that anytime she tried to roll over her arms and legs would get stuck in between the bars. We got her to sleep in her stroller each night. She then slept most of the way home. Overall, it was a great first family vacation.
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July 8th--Minneapolis, MN

First we visited Murphy's Historic Landing. I was curious to see the difference between prairie life and river life. Turns out there is really only one difference--towns by a river had a ferry master and prairie towns don't!
We then drove to downtown Minneapolis. We visited the Mill City Museum. It had a neat video/elevator tour of the building. Not really much of an opportunity for pictures. We had tickets to see the Twins versus the Yankees. The people were nice and the game was good. The Yankees won 4-3.
Mena enjoyed talking to the people around us, but eventually crashed in Gene's arms.

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July 7th--Downtown St. Paul

We parked our car in a garage and were able to walk to all these different places. We spent the entire day in downtown St. Paul.
We visited the science museum. There was an exhibit of Titanic artifacts that Gene and I were glad to see. The full-size dino skeletons were also neat to see. As you can tell from both pictures, Mena was more interested in her binky than in the science museum.
We went inside this beautiful building that reminded me of a movie scene. All the floors were open in the middle and the ceiling was made of windows.

Gene took a picture of us on an upper floor.

In that building we visited a museum of musical instruments. I think this was Mena's favorite place on the entire vacation. The lady at the museum gave us the mallot to play the xylophone. Mena would strike the plate, pause to listen, and then giggle. She preferred the higher pitches so the lady took us over to another xylophone that was higher pitched and Mena loved it!
Posted by PicasaAfter that we visited the Minnesota State Capitol Building. We took a tour of the building and had our picture taken up by the gold horses.

July 6th--Minneapolis, MN

We ate breakfast at Denny's. Mena took half the meal to pick out what she wanted on the menu :)

Then we went to the underground aquarium at Mall of America. We saw lots of sharks, sting rays, turtles, sea horses, and other sea animals in the aquariums. It's similar to the aquarium tunnel at Henry Doorly only lots bigger.

Mena looking at the animals as we walked through.

We toured St. Paul's Cathedral. Mena was hungry so we sat on a bench to feed her before we left.

After we got done feeding her, I looked behind us and realized it was a picnic with Jesus!

Then we drove to Kokomo Island Cafe for Gene's and my supper.

July 5th--Trip to Minneapolis, MN

Yea, we're on our way! Here is Mena and Daddy in the parking lot at Panera Bread in Ames, IA.

We ate supper at Rainforest Cafe in the Mall of America.

Mena looking around at all the rainforest trees and animals.
Mena wasn't sure what to think when the "thunderstorm" struck in the restaurant!
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July 4th at Rick and Lynn's

Mena with Aunt Beth and Peyton. Check out the belly--the newest baby will be joining the family in August!

Mena talking to us while sitting on Grandma's lap.
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Something Like Crawling



Mena has learned how to scoot herself forward. It's more of an army crawl, but she's figuring it out!

July 3rd at Holly & Nick's

Holly took a good picture of our family.

Mena has learned how to wave at people. Here Holly snapped the picture when Mena waved at her.
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Camping at Louisville June 19-21

Mena has been going through separation anxiety. Here I gave her to my mom so I could go do something and she started throwing a fit. It was so funny that I had to take a picture before going to do whatever I was doing.

Mena was much happier when she could play by herself in the middle of the rug. She would smile at others as long as they kept their distance.

By evening she'd warmed up to everyone. Here my dad got a smile out of her.

The next morning Peyton and Mena were sitting on Grandma and Grandpa's bed in their camper.
Mena cuddling with Mommy. That's a rarity since she learned how to move around.

She really wasn't interested in napping. She kept looking around like she was going to miss something, but finally she crashed.

Mena with Uncle Jon.

Peyton liked taking care of Mena. He's got quite the sense of humor, too. He insisted that the umbrella should be out in front of her instead of being above her. Then he decided that she looked funny with the pom pom on her head.

It was a fun weekend. The tent was pretty cozy with us, Mena, and Emmy Lou.
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Ducky Bath


We got this ducky bath from Mena's cousin Peyton. She throughly enjoys the "just her size" bath!
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