Ski Trips & Looking Forward to Winter

The golf season is finally winding down, & I don't think we could be more thankful. It has been a very long and stressful summer, but a fairly smooth and successful one for our first year at Glen View Club.

Kyle has been diligently researching our winter vacations. He gets 3 months off starting in January through March. He has planned out 3 ski trips and possibly one warm weather destination. I think the guy needs some r&r wouldn't you say??? We have two out of the three trips hammered out. The first trip we will be returning back to Snowbird in Salt Lake City, UT over Christmas. We absolutely loved it out there last year and the trip has really inspired Kyle in skiing. Brandon and Leslie will be accompaning us. Brandon is a little nervous to be "stuck" with us for a WHOLE week - oh my gosh! I think he will have fun and be fine, he just needs to invest in an iPod so he can shut us off when he needs. I mean isn't that what they were made for? Leslie is just so excited to go on vacation I think we could take her to Alaska during the dark part of the year and she would be utterly thrilled! The Second trip we are planning is going to be to Steamboat, CO in February. Flights are a steal to get out there, and we have invited Rob and gretchen (kyle's former assistant at Sand Ridge) to accompany us. We are planning on asking possibly another couple or two. Kyle was lucky enough to find us a condo to stay in free of charge - whoa!!! So, we are very excited about that one. He just needs to finalize dates and purchase flights. Lastly, we are planning to go to Whistler, Canada. This will be a private vacation in March for us to relax, ski, and possibly do some snowmobiling. Kyle found some great agency to do all the research and put together the trip for much, much less than we could have. We are very much in anticipation of our getaways. We have even bought our skis and boots!

This summer I had a battle with my thyroid that probably started mid-june in the decline and lasted until late August. Just as I started to feel better and begin exercising again after no exercise for 2 months, I caught the classic flu lasting a nearly a week, then the stomach flu the following week lasting another 5 days. UGH!!!!

When your thyroid goes untreated in thyroid disease you lose ability to function day-to-day; massive, horrible fatigue, your brain stops processing information, memory loss, & hair loss are just some of 16 symptoms. I also learned just how important it is to be your own advocate when it comes to your health. Many people go misdiagnosed with thyroid disease because the labs ranges in most practitioners office are way to wide 0.35 to 5.5, and anything over 2.0 is hypo!!! If you have these symptoms get tested and ASK for a copy of your results!!! Okay, I will get off my soapbox for now!

First Bike Ride

Here is Morgan taking her first bike ride on mom's bike! Yes, that is an Elmo helmet!We had a trailer previously, but I decided to give it to my mom (as she and my dad have invested in some regular bikes), as where we are located here on the north shore there are not always sidewalks making the trailer somewhat inconvienent and questionable on safety. I thought that the child carrier just made more sense.

So Saturday we set out on our first adventure on the bike together. Morgan had so much fun! I think she throughly enjoyed our trip that lasted an hour and 45 minutes!!! Wow, does time fly by! When we got home I began to take her out of the carrier and she got mad! However, I convinced her with some kitty cat treats.

The Power of Kitty Kat Treats!

Hold on, No, I am not feeding my child cat food! No, what I have discovered is the power of bribing a 2 year old! As you may not know, I have no formal training on raising kids (okay so most parents don't) or any kind of resource to fall back on, as I never really cared much for kids. I don't know what makes them tick, especially when they start leaking for no good reason! I know how that sounds, but I just was never interested in kids, so I am learning on the job as a mom.

Recently, as usual, I was having difficulties with getting Morgan ready for daycare. We were battling, again, with her independent spirit (why doesn't she just give up? Oh yeah, that would be easy, and God said this life wouldn't be - awe...). Then I remembered some Hello Kitty fruit snacks that her and Kyle had picked up the night before at the grocery store - he is always letting her choose what to get at the store, which is very cute, but hey what does a 2 year old know anyway??? So, I told her that if she came downstairs and put her pants on she could have a kitty kat treat. H-o-l-y cow! I have never seen anyone put pants on that quick in all my life!!! Of course, then for the next couple weeks she was working like a slave for that illusive kitty kat treat. Since then, it has lost some of it's luster, but I am sure I will come up with something new - stay tuned!

Morgan's 2nd Birthday!!!

Saturday, July 29th marked Morgan's 2nd birthday! Although I think that she has hit the terrible two mark much before her chronical age as we have discovered what a true temper tantrum is really like! She has gotten to know the four walls of her room at a much more deeper and intimate level since the outrage has continued escalating! However her second birthday has also marked many other interesting developments as well. She can easily count to 10, she knows how old she is, what her name is - so don't call her suzy! She is often successful at taking her clothes off and especially her diaper! The daycare recently informed me that I need to tape her diapers at home and when I take her there as she has run around the playground one to many times with her diaper in hand. I am sensing that she is ready to potty train! I don't know that mom and dad have the time right now to really concentrate on it with the golf season still in full swing and I fighting off the debilitating symtoms of tyroid disease right now. So, I will be doing some more research on potty training so that when everyone is ready - hopefully it will be smoother sailing! Twice this week now, Morgan has gotten out of bed on her own and wondered downstairs to turn on the lights in the kitchen and dining room before she crawls up on the chair to hang out until mommy and daddy get up! While this has been distrubing for us, I am mostly thankful that she is relaxing while the diaper is still intact on her little bottom! Morgan is also saying many new words and starting to string together small 5-6 word sentences. She has quite a fiesty little attitude and can be very stubborn much like mom and dad! All and all we are enjoying the new surprizes in our life and the joy and tribulation that she brings!

Kyle Bauer's Golf Shop

Thought that I would put up some pictures of how nice the golf shop is looking. It surely has come a long way. Some of you were fortunate enough to have seen it before the final product. We didn't have what looked like a whole lot to work with, but has turned out fairly nice!

Missing Dogs...

After Morgan finished eating dinner, I went to the kitchen to finish up our dinner. I was getting a lot done and Morgan was being so good! I thought she was over in the dining area just playing nicely with some toys, the dogs, who know what. Pretty soon she starts crying because, what I thought she couldn't get the slider open. I calmed her down then thought to myself, huh, that's not bad...she forgot how to get it open. Before long, I heard these dogs barking outside. It was eriely quite in our house to have dogs barking and ours not putting their two cents in. So, I yelled for Ellie and Roxie, and no answer. Well, I have come to learn that when they are up to no good, I have to knock on something and say "who's here????" No answer....hmmmm. I look outside and there they are barking at a neighbor! She is giving them bread too!!! I appologized quickly and said thank you for being so kind. These people around us are going to be happy when we finally leave!

Calling All Lost-Brained Mothers!!!!

Recruitment for this new small group of women actually began sometime ago - many of you just don't know you've joined yet. And don't worry we accept just pure moreons too, you don't necessarily need to be a mom. However, I have found it is much easier to claim you are part of the group after you have had a child. I mean comeon what better way to "come out" after you have had a child? You now can claim that it is because you have to think for 2 people, instead of just yourself! Heck, there are even some of you who have to think for all 3 people. I suppose though, those of you who don't have a kid and are married - could just claim the husband - it is your choice, but you all know who you are! And you also know if your part of this small group or not!!!

So anyway, I got some great advice from one of Kyle's assistants at the golf shop, so I thought it was good enough to employ! Here's what I am talking about. Morgan is now tall enough that she can push that little button in on the door from the inside of the room. Yes, the genius showed mom exactly how she could lock herself in the bedroom. Of course I was a little caught off guard by this, but no sweat - I just grabbed my trusty paper clip, straightened it out, and "pop" opens the door in a matter of seconds. Sneaky mom! So, this kept going on for awhile and for whatever reason I was talking to one of Kyle's assistants about it when he recommended that I just switch the lock to the outside. And I was like "Yes, that's it Dr. Watson!" you've solved the mystery (too much "Sheerluck and the Golden Ruler"). So, I went straight home and did just that! Worked great for days. Then, today while I was cleaning up Morgan's room, right after putting her nice toddler bed together, what does Morgan do? Locks the door and closes it! Thank God, she was in there with me! Because if she was on the outside - I might have really paniced! But I figured, no sweat, I'll just open the window, shimmy down the roof and find a safe place to land....hmmm - not sure where that would have been??? But first I said a small prayer. And God, boy he is good - He told me to just open it from the inside with that trusty paper clip! Hmmm, where did that thing go??? Then I remember all these little items that I had put in a cup in Morgan's dresser before we moved - mostly outlet covers. But atlas, there was a bobby pin - Oh, thank God!!! "Pop" and the door opens! She is supposedly sleeping now!

"Big Girl" Bed Take 2!

Well, I have found out why toddler beds are probably a good investment! Through our journey of "converting" the crib into a toddler daybed - I have found that Morgan has probably spent more time sleeping on the floor than her new and improved "big girl" bed. She would just roll off onto the floor and I would find her before I went to bed, underneath the crib. The picture somehow told me that she rolled off onto the pillows, that I had so carefully and strategically placed on the floor by the crib, and down to the side of the pillows to land in a nice peaceful pile under the crib. Like a murder scene - only the weapon was the bed, the dead body a undistrubed sleeping little girl and the chalk line would journey up onto the pillows and back down underneath the crib. You might be wondering how that could happen with that blue bed rail??? My whiz kid pretty much showed me that having that bed rail, wasn't going to work. She would grab hold of it and shake the living crap out of it! And even though it didn't budge - it worried me too much about the new things she might discover to do with it.

Of course once we got it home I had to put it together right away to test on her afternoon nap before the big sleep tonight. In the process of putting it together I learned that it was helpful if you did it a couple times - First a practice run to get an idea of how it will look. You don't want this one to be the correct way - just in case you don't like it and want to take it apart again. Then the second time, if you like it, you read the directions, you get the rails on the right side (there are two very small holes that are easy to miss, but this might fall under the idiotic mother's small group). And that my friends is why you need a practice run!

Big Girl Bed

While bringing out Morgan's summer cloths and putting away the winter ones, yesterday Morgan demonstrated to me how she can climb into her crib and back out. So today, we went to daddy's golf shop to pick up the tools and take the crib rail off. For Morgan this was very exciting, climbing in and out of bed without any problems! I put up a smaller rail so she doesn't flip flop like a fish right onto the floor! She did that at mama Stafford's when she was sleeping with me due to being sick. It should be interesting to see how the night goes!

Welcome to Our Blogspot!

Okay, so after checking out one of my girlfriends blogspots of her daughter, I thought that this might be the best way to keep everyone updated on Morgan & us. Of course mostly just Morgan! Hope everyone enjoys!