Lifted

For those of you who don't know the saga, here is the sweet & condensed version. Before Patrick and I were married, I bought and lived in a nice little condo. Upon becoming a Gunerud, I moved into Patrick's house with the plan that we would rent out the condo as an investment. Check the date: early 2008. Our fabulous friends rented from us for not quite a year before they bought a home of their own. We're now in April 2009. We list the condo for sale and for rent and wait until October for a renter. Fast forward to June of 2010. Our renter dies in the condo and isn't found until a week later. We decide, "this is for the birds" and put the condo up for sale the beginning of July (after we paint and re-carpet). Remember our timeline: 2008 housing bubble bursts; 2009 housing market sucks rocks; and 2010 no recovery in sight. Due to many miracles, we were able to make 2 mortgages for a total of 11 months of the past 2 years. The biggest miracle, however, is that someone made a cash offer the week before Thanksgiving and we closed on November 30. It is such a relief and a blessing to have this burden lifted from us and to be that much closer to "debt-free".

Fwoo Fwoo

Rachael is PDC... Pretty Darn Cute! When she wants to bark, she says "fwoo" instead of "woof". The rest of this is random and from my cell phone. She figured out she could put her fork in her straw.

Being silly.

And, she pretty much loves rocks. (Note the teeth in this picture. She got 2 more on the bottom last week to bring the total to 10)

Okay, okay

Fine. Since no one likes reading, here you go.

Poll Time

It's that time...I go for an ultrasound in less than 3 weeks. So let's have your gender guesses. And if you're feeling really creative, you can suggest names* as well.

*any and all suggestions are veto-able.

We're Having Fun!

I just looked at my post for September 11 about Rachael's new teeth. It's been about 2 1/2 weeks since then. She now has a total of 7 teeth--she had just 2 prior to that post. Yowza. On the upside, we've been working on biting pieces of food off instead of shoving everything in all at once. That seems to be going well. Sorry, I don't have a picture for you, she doesn't show her teeth on demand.

Alrighty Then

Yesterday, just a while after I wrote the last post about Rachael's 2 new teeth, we went to the park to play. While swinging, Rachael tipped her head back to laugh. That's when I saw another tooth, I'm not sure, but I think it's a molar. It has emerged even more than the 2 I knew about. Bizarre. Well, no wonder she's been more screamy than usual. Apparently she is going to be quite the individual and not do things the way everyone else does.

Smile!

Rachael has 2 more teeth. They broke through on Thursday. She already has her 2 bottom front teeth, so now she has 4 all together. The new ones that came in are one of the top front and the one lateral to it (next to her canine). It seems a weird way for them to come in. But, we are glad that they are finally here.

Dinner Time

Rachael really loves Koda. She really, really loves to feed him. By hand. Every day. Koda doesn't mind the arrangement so much either.

Itsy Bitsy

Rachael can ask for two songs now: Itsy Bitsy Spider and Twinkle, Twinkle. Of course, I have to do all the hard work...

Pride

So, I don't think it's exactly pride. I just don't know what else to call it. I'm not comparing myself to anybody...I just can't get over how beautiful this bread is. I've been trying for awhile to get a good wheat bread going. Well, this is it. It's 100% whole wheat, super soft, and yummy. When I pull a loaf out of the oven, I think, "Wow! That is gorgeous." It's sort of like the feeling I get when I get done with a drawing and am just amazed that something that good was created by me. Ok. I'm probably rambling now. I'll just let the picture do the rest of the bragging. Sorry, no smell-o-vision.

Blue Angels

Today we went to go watch the Blue Angels at the air show. We did not want to pay to get into the airport and deal with the crowd so we went to the soccer fields next to the runway. This was probably one of the best spots to watch them from since they were flying right over head. We were buzzed several times. We forgot to bring our camera so all we had was our cell phones. Here are some pictures that we were able to get.

What Happened to My Baby?

It's only 10:15 a.m. So far this morning Rachael has: found my shoes and carried them around the house awhile; decided that Koda must be hand-fed his kibble; and found a kleenex and tried to "wash" the cabinet fronts in the bathroom. Right now she is throwing a foot-stamping tantrum. I'm not sure why. I think she might have been trying to get a toy out from under a huge pile in the toy box. She doesn't deal well with frustration. And in the time it took to type that, she is now drinking from her sippy cup and dancing. It's only 10:19 a.m.

We Have a Tooth, etc.

Rachael's first tooth erupted last Thursday. Hooray! Sorry no pictures...it's still pretty hard to see and she doesn't like me messing around in her mouth at the moment. So, on Mother's Day Rachael took her first steps, about 4 at one time. She did that up until last Saturday when she busted out with a walk across the length of the living room toward her toy in the dining room. Woo Hoo! We also do not have a good video of her doing that yet. But it's a comin'.

Agility Too

Here are a couple of stills of the first part of the course to go with the video below.

Run Koda Run

For the last month and a half, we've been taking Koda to agility classes once a week. Although frustrating at times, I think he really likes it...when he's not distracted. Tonight was our last class. Here you can see him doing the second half of the course:

Family Pics

Here are our new family pictures. See last post about copyright.

Baby Girl

My beautiful baby is 1 year old. She's not even a baby anymore. On Mother's Day she walked for the first time. Here are her pictures. Please do not copy or use, since they are here by permission of the copyright holder: Riverside Photography. Thanks!

The Big One

Rachael turned 1 last Thursday. On Saturday we had a party for her and a lot of my family and Patrick's family were able to come. It was a lot of fun. We had a farm animal theme with games. There were hamburgers and cupcakes. Here are a few pictures of the present opening.

And here's the piggie. She did not let go the rest of the day until I showed her a cupcake ;)

Thank you everyone for coming and being part of Rachael's life.

Squash on Rye

Rachael loves food. She will try pretty much anything, even things with strong flavors and textures. She loves beans, couscous, squash and lemons. It's nice that she's not picky yet.

Pumped!

I got a new toy yesterday. I am so excited. Even though it was only 54 degrees out, baby girl and I had to test it out. I think she liked it--she talked for the whole ride. I know I liked it. Nothing compares to the feeling of freedom when you're riding a bike. Woo Hoo! Oh, and I totally scored--bought it off Craigslist from someone who used it about 10 times, so its in primo condition.

Easter Do

Ok, so she wasn't exactly happy with me messing with her head. But I would have only needed one minute instead of 5 if she'd have held still and not fussed. ;)

Piggy Tails

Rachael's first piggy tails...

Rachael & Koda

Rachael loves Koda. She used to crawl right up to his face and put her head down so that he can lick the top of her head. Now she crawls up to him with her mouth wide open. I think she's trying to kiss him, since that's what she does to me when I kiss her. She gets so excited when he comes into the room and tries to crawl after him--a tricky task since he goes so fast most of the time.