Third of July Update

Hello everyone! It has been awhile since we allowed Libby to update the blog, but you are going to have to deal with me in this one since Libby is taking a nap right now. It has been a month, so it is time to rack my brain and try to remember what has been going on since then.

We did get the new landing, errr, deck on the front of the house completed. It turned out really great and once the railing was added, it just tied into the house nicely and looks like it has been there all along. It ended up being around 9 feet by 9 feet, so we were able to put two chairs out on it for sitting in the evening. The house creates some shade on it in the evening, which is something we don't get on our main deck out back.

Libby got to meet the Kertz side of the family last weekend as one of Denise's cousins got married in Edinberg, ND. Libby did real well on the three and a half hour car ride, only requiring two stops. The minivan worked out very well as Denise was able to crawl into the back with Libby and feed her while I kept on driving. All of Denise's aunts and uncles got to meet Libby and she did very well with all the passing around. A side note, just to show how small of a world it can be sometimes. A former student of mine was a bridesmaid in this wedding.

Libby has gotten her third tooth, this one on top. She has one more coming in for sure, maybe another two, which would give her four on top and two on the bottom. Of course, she is running the "teething fever" right now and has been a little fussy.

Libby is getting very close to walking right now. She is pulling herself up with anything she can get her hands on and has done a little furniture walking. She is even getting very brave and holding onto things with one hand and showing off. But she hasn't mastered balancing with no hands yet.

Otherwise, there has not been a whole lot else going on here. Denise and I are looking forward to this three day weekend. We made a vow to each other that we were just going to veg out since every weekend leading up to it has been dealing with yard work, house improvements or traveling. Ahhhhh, it feels good just relaxing!

Of course, what blog entry would be complete without updated pictures. So here they are. We hope everyone has a great and safe Fourth of July!

Troy, Denise and Elizabeth

Having Fun

Long Awaited Update

Posted by Libby:

First off, I need to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Auntie Stacy!!!! I could try singing to you like Maddy did for daddy, but you would not be able to understand it!

Like mommy has said, where has the time gone! I blew by my eighth month birthday and will have my ninth birthday on June 2nd. Since the last blog, I have gotten my two bottom front teeth and my top two teeth are getting very close to pushing through. Of course, this has caused me to make several trips to the doctor's office for ear infections. Mommy and daddy never know what they are going to get from me, some days I am crabby and others, I am the best baby in the world.

On my eighth month birthday, I got to stay overnight with Grandpa and Grandma Danielson. Mommy took daddy with a couple of friends to the casino. I don't think they won big as I didn't get anything from the trip. I kept Grandma and Grandpa on their toes, but I think all three of us would do it again.

The other big deal in my life is that I started crawling on Thursday. I am not motoring around yet, but I am giving mom and dad a good idea of what needs to be baby proofed. Mom has a couple of decorative baskets with things in them that have been some of my first targets. I keep trying to bypass this crawling thing and get up on my own two feet.

Memorial Day weekend I got to travel with Grandpa and Grandma Danielson (and mom and dad) as we went to Humbolt, Iowa, for one of mom's cousin's highschool graduation party. I got to meet a lot of the Danielson family and Great Grandma Beulah. She was great! I got passed around a lot that evening, but I still kept my eye on mom and dad. In a few weeks, I will get to meet the Kertz side of the family and one of mommy's cousins on her mom's side of the family is getting married.

Dad started a major project this spring, which was putting a bigger landing on the front of the house. Well, this landing turned into a 9' by 10' deck. I don't think he and mom realized how big it was going to turn out when they spray painted the outline on the ground. But now, three weekends later, all he has left to do is put the railings on. We ran to Menards today to purchase them, but they were out and there was a 10-13 day wait for them. So, the new deck will be railing-less for a couple of weeks. If anyone falls off though, it is only a 2 foot drop to the ground. There are also plans to put up railings on the back deck this summer.

I have been in the tree swing a few times this spring and I just love it!! When mommy pushes me I hang on tight and cant stop giggling. Also, the feeling of the fresh air blowing through my red locks is AWESOME!

Until next time.....

Libby, Denise and Troy

Why does life always get so busy?
We know its been awhile, but we promise to have a new post on here by the end of the weekend...stay tuned!!

Not Much Here But Pictures

Well, it has been a while since we last updated the blog, but we have just been too busy with things that it has taken a back seat. Well, with today being a rainy, foggy, cold day, it is time. We have a few pictures to get up also, and we know that is what you all wait for.



Libby continues to grow and learn new things. We are starting to baby proof things as she is getting ever so close to crawling. She is babbling up a storm and is sleeping through the night occasionally. She will turn 8 months on May 2nd, which is also daddy's birthday (Denise also had a birthday on April 3rd)! Libby enjoyed her first Easter with the Mills side of the family, where she got to see relatives that she had not seen since baptism.



The snow is gone from here, including the huge snow drift we had in our back yard. The last snow storm we had pushed it close to the 100 inch high mark. It was nice enough yesterday that we were able to get the lawn dethatched and cleaned up before the rain today. Up next will be hanging a swing for Libby in the back yard and building a railing on our deck as well as building a new landing for our front door (bigger and nicer, just for you Stacy!). On the nice days though, we do get the stroller out and go for a walk with Libby, heading up to the bike trail here in town (part of the Central Lakes Trail that runs from Fergus Falls to Osakis where it links up with the Lake Wobegon Trail to Avon).



On the hockey front, Bemidji State lost in the National Semifinals, 4-1, to Miami of Ohio, in Washington, DC. It was a great run (they were the #16 seed out of 16 teams) and will make the off season that much shorter. Bemidji will make their pitch to the WCHA on Monday, April 27th, to try and become a member of that league as the league they are in, College Hockey America, will disband after this upcoming year.



That is about all from here for now, so here are the pictures!


Libby playing on the floor with her stacking cups.

Red headed and a girl power bib. We may be in for a little trouble!


Staying home with mom as she works from home is hard work!

Libby on her way to Easter Dinner at Great Aunt Esther's

Libby ready for one of the many stroller walks we have taken this spring already.


Libby with her hat on and out playing on the deck as mom and dad do some yard work.

Libby with her pink sunglasses on!
Is this Libby's Rocker pose????
But mom, this is how all the kids are wearing them at Daycare????
A cup with holes in the bottom can be an exciting toy at bath time!
The is what mom and dad do with me when I am ready to go and they aren't!!! I really wish they could get ready on time........

Have a great rest of the month of April as May is just around the corner!!!!

Troy, Denise and Elizabeth

Just Have To Get This On The Blog

GO BEAVERS!!!!

The Bemidji State Beavers Hockey Team will be playing today in the first game of the 2009 NCAA Frozen Four (Final Four of hockey). The game will take place at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC, and will be on ESPN2 at 4:00 CDT. A win by the Beavers and they will play on Saturday night at 6:00 on ESPN for the National Title.

Daycare Drama!

Okay, so no pictures with this post, but Denise and I have been talking about daycare and what we observe every day when we drop off and pick Libby up. We find it kind of funny, so we thought we would share.

In the morning, Denise drops Libby off at daycare. The last couple of weeks, when she sits Libby down on the floor to play, one of the other girls in the room, Alexa, always comes over to her and they start "gabbing" away. This morning when Denise dropped her off, she sat her down and Alexa came over and started talking with Libby. Well, Libby coughed some and Denise patted her on the back. Alexa walked behind Libby and started patting her on the back just like Denise had. Alexa also likes to rub Libby's hair according to the daycare personnel. Looks like Libby has her first friend!

In the afternoon, I get to pick Libby up. It is the complete opposite with Isabelle and Libby. Every day when I walk in and get Libby, Isabelle and Libby will just stare at each other. I have never heard either one of them babble to each other, let alone smile! They just stare. Looks like Libby has her first enemy.

Denise said something to the daycare staff the other day and they had noticed both of these situations also! Libby also likes to laugh at the kids that throw temper tantrums. The other day one of the boys in the room just had a fit and was laying on the floor kicking and screaming. The staff was trying to get him to calm down when all of a sudden they burst out laughing. Here, Libby was sitting off to the side, just letting a great big belly laugh out. The more she laughed, the more the boy kicked and screamed. The more Libby laughed, the more the daycare staff laughed, and the more upset the little boy got. I guess it is not the first time she has done that as they have said she will laugh at kids that are crying.

Not a whole lot else going on here. Our hockey travels are over until October now. Bemidji is still playing as they won their conference tournament and now will play in the NCAA Tournament. They drew Notre Dame in their first game and will play in Grand Rapids, MI. Lucky for me, the game will be on Saturday night on ESPN Classic at 6:30. It will be a very tough game for them as Notre Dame is ranked number 2 in the nation right now, but in a one game playoff, anything can happen. If they win, they play Sunday, if they loose, they are done.

Both our jobs are still going very well. Denise just got done with a weekend upgrade that switched a portion of the Unicel customers over to Verizon. She had to work Saturday night from midnight to Sunday at 6:30am to complete the task, but it is done and Unicel is no more (for the most part). But as I have stated in earlier posts, her job looks pretty secure.

Our snow is, whoops, WAS just about gone. We had a pretty good blizzard a couple of weeks ago dropping 8-10 inches of snow with 40 mile per hour winds. That made the drift behind our house push 100 inches in height. Right now, after three days of rain, that drift is about down to 12 inches tops. It was also about the only snow left in our yard. But now today, we have gotten about an inch, maybe two. As far as flooding goes, we are pretty high and dry here. Our cul-de-sac had a nice pond for about three days, but that is now gone. Otherwise, most of the flooding is at least an hour from here.

That is about all from here. We will try and have some pictures for you next time!

Troy, Denise and Libby

Libby's 1st Spoon Feeding

Libby at 6 months!

Six Months Old

I know, I know, it is a day early. But tomorrow, March 2, Elizabeth Rose will be six months old. It is hard to believe as it has flown by fast. Everyone that sees Libby for the first time in a couple of weeks talks about how much she has changed. I guess we don't see it as we are around her daily. But then we go and look at her past pictures and we see it! She is getting bigger, so much so that we had to get new car seats for the vehicles and install them today as she has outgrown the ones we have now. It will be interesting tomorrow to see just how big she really is as she has her six month checkup. We will also have to put up with shots............

Things here have been busy. We sat down last week and realized we needed to take this weekend just to have to ourselves. We have been on the run or doing something every weekend since the beginning of February and this was going to be the only weekend we would have free until April. So, we spent four hours at Walmart on Saturday getting Libby's six month / Easter picture taken. The photo center was running behind and that pushed us back about a half hour. They then told us to go do our shopping and then stop back to pick out photos. Well, when we stopped back, there was a family in front of us and they took what seemed like forever. Libby was a trooper through all of this, doing very well, probably better than mom and dad.

As for our hockey trips, we only have two left. The Beavers will conclude their regular season next weekend in Bemidji, and then the following weekend they will host the Conference Tournament. It seems like just yesterday the season was starting and now it is almost over. Okay, at least for Troy it seems that way!

Our jobs continue to go well. Denise survived her week in Texas for training with Verizon. More importantly, daddy and Libby survived the week without mommy being around. Verizon has announced that they will keep the building in Alexandria open, just who all will be staffed there is yet to be determined. But, with the company training Denise the way they are, her job looks more and more secure every day. The Alexandria community did take a big hit as they handed out pink slips to the call center staff and some others, about 65-70 individuals.

My job continues to get busier and busier as more and more people hit the unemployment lines. Working for a company that deals with government assistance for medical, perscription and dental care, our jobs get busier and busier as people get laid off. Add to that the fact everyday I learn a little more about the "system", it means that there is more I can do. It is a fast paced job and the days just fly by. I will admit I work on a great team, so that has really helped the learning curve.

For not posting in about six weeks, this post seems a little short. But, I will leave you with some pictures of Libby, since that is who everyone wants to see! We also picked up a video camera around Christmas time, so videos should be appearing on this site in the future (just have to edit them some!).

The first few pictures are of Libby "sitting" in the huge snow drift we have on the north side of the house. Back in January, it measured around 40 inches above the surface of the deck, or 70 inches total. We had a few days in the 40s and a day of rain in February, so it shrunk down to around 50 inches total. Well, this past Thursday, we had a storm that dropped around 10 inches with a little bit of wind. Now the drift measures 73 inches, so it grew again.

Anyway, enjoy the snow pictures.

Up next is Libby and Daddy lounging around on Saturday.

Honestly, Libby does like bath time even if that "look" doesn't look like it!

Libby laying around on the floor. She loves being on her back and is getting better at "tummy time". She has figured out how to hold her head up with her arms and how to hold her rear up with her legs, but hasn't put both of them together yet to start crawling. I think she sees the crawlers and walkers at daycare and wants to move like that. She is getting pretty good at sitting up and is pretty close to being able to hold herself steady without help.

Libby "looking" at the roses that Mommy got for Valantine's Day (the roses are a little droopy now, but they did look nice at one time!) She is really starting to get curious about things, scratching, touching and tasting as many things as she can. We have started to pay REAL close attention to what she is doing. She loves the newspaper and Target ad!

We have used this "Jump and Go" that we got from my sister Stacy quite a bit. Libby just loves it. It is portable, so it has worked great on hockey weekends in the hotel room and last weekend when we helped move my Grandma out of her apartment. We just hung it in a doorway somewhat out of the way and she was happy for hours.

Well, that is about all from here for now. We hope everyone is doing well and we will try to keep this updated more frequently. Hopefully we can get videos figured out and we will have those up soon.

Troy, Denise and Libby