Merry Christmas!

Just a quick post to wish everyone a merry Christmas! We are busy getting ready for our various Christmas celebrations and packing for our vacation! Hopefully I'll have a chance to update while we're away.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Winter is here!

We are in the midst of a winter storm. Both interstates that pass through our town are closed. No travel advised, church and Sunday school Christmas program cancelled, stuck at home all day. Perfect! We are having a great day of being forced to ignore the busy life going on around us and just spend time together. We've made Christmas cookies, Josh has a roast going in the crock pot and Avery and I managed to get a nap together. The only bad part is that the drifts from the 40 MPH winds are too high for the snowblower to push through. We had about two inches of snow before this storm and we now have five foot high drifts on the south side of our house. Not sure how we'll get our cars out tomorrow, but we'll find a way. The forecast for this week is a bit chilly too. The high on Tuesday is -10 degrees. I love winter, but am seriously counting the days until our sunny vacation after Christmas!

Tate's haircut!

Here are a few pics of Tate's haircut. I love, love, LOVE the second one. I was holding his head so the stylist could use the clippers on his neck and he wasn't quite sure what to make of it!

Firsts!

I'm only going to post a bit, but there have been a few firsts in our house recently and I want to share!

Avery had her first dentist appointment a few weeks ago and did a great job. She was calm, followed directions, and didn't cry. We even got her to sit still for a few x-rays to check on her tooth that turned gray last year. One of her favorite activities at home is now playing dentist! She always says to me "Mommy, how about you pretend you're a doctor and I'll pretend I'm a kid, okay Mommy?" Um, okay Avery. Way to let your imagination run wild!!! :)

Tate had his first haircut last week! He looks like such a little boy now! He sat on my lap during the haircut since he can't sit very solidly on his own yet. We have some great pictures but for some reason Blgger won't let me post them right now... I'll keep trying! After Tate was done with his haircut we went to the annual holiday lights parade. Avery had a blast, but was too cold to take off her mittens to get candy. I was okay with that! We tried to get a picture of Tate bundled up for his first parade but the camera battery died. If Avery's love of parades and marching bands continues I'm sure there will be plenty of other opportunities!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Our family at back to school night for Tate's Early Intervention program; taken Oct. 2008.

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I'm up before my kids (for once.. usually they are the ones waking me up!) so I thought I would take a minute to write about what I'm thankful for this year.

I'm thankful that my brother made it home safely from Iraq and has now met his nephew Tate. We all missed him and worried about him while he was gone and having him home for Thanksgiving is such a blessing. Avery can't stop talking about her uncle John being home and is loving having him close so she can spend time with him.

I'm thankful for my family. Although the last year has thrown a few unexpected curveballs our way, we feel so fortunate to have two healthy, happy kids. Avery is a loving, bright, caring, complicated little girl. She keeps us on our toes and I can't imagine my life without her. Tate is an adorable, happy, cuddly little boy who knows how to get what he wants from mom and dad... Even though he can't talk, he knows how to get our attention and always rewards our attention with a smile. :) I can't wait to see what kind of little boy he will grow into. Last but not least, I am thankful for my husband. Not only is he my best friend and greatest supporter, he is the best dad I know. And those of you who know us well will believe me when I say that our household would not function without him. He is the cook in our family, takes care of the yard, the garbage, and helps with keeping the house clean. I know, lucky me!!

I'm thankful for all of our parents. Although we don't see all of them as often as we'd like, we love all of them and are thankful that we have a good relationship with each of them. I can't say that it's always been that way for us, so we truly are thankful that things have changed over the years.

I'm thankful for our siblings. We miss being able to see Josh's siblings often, but are looking forward to spending time together over Christmas. Not only do we get along well with all of our brothers and Taylar, they all love our kids and enjoy spending time around them. I'm also thankful for our future sister-in-laws. Only one of our brothers is engaged, but the other three are dating great women who we would be honored to have included in our family.

I'm thankful that both Josh and I have jobs that we love and that are secure. I know many people who have recently lost jobs as a result of the economy and can't imagine how scary that would be. Both Josh and I love what we do and truly enjoy being at work. How lucky are we??

I am thankful for the wonderful people who care for Avery and Tate while Josh and I work. They are both in great places with women who do a great job with kids. While having them in different daycares isn't ideal, I am so relieved to have found a daycare that works for Tate.

Lastly, I am thankful that I live in the United States. Although I don't think about it on a daily basis, there are millions of people who live in countries where they don't have the freedoms that we take for granted. Thank you John, and all of our military for defending the freedoms that we have been given.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Great weekend!

Even though Josh worked all weekend, we had a great one! This weekend was Josh's last weekend at his second job! For the past 2 1/2 years he has worked every other weekend... usually Friday evening, all day Saturday, and noon-5 on Sunday. That wasn't as big of a deal with just one child, but now with Tate added to our family my weekends alone with the kids get to be a bit hectic. Avery and I (and Tate :) are so excited to have him around more often!



Saturday morning I went to an event called Rest and Rejuv. It was a gathering of moms who have kids with disabilities of some sort. There was a speaker who is the mom of a child with cerebral palsy; she spoke about finding joy in the journey. I really enjoyed listening to her and the focus of her talk was something I needed to hear right now. Even though we wouldn't necessarily have chosen the path we're now on, there are so many great things about our life that we never would have experienced otherwise. The event also included a great brunch, pampering sessions (massages, yoga, hand treatments, etc.) and door prizes. Every woman there was drawn for a door prize of some type, whether it was a massage, a gift basket from Bath and Body Works, or a grocery store gift card. I was lucky enough to win one of the two grand prizes- a facial, pedicure and massage from Hair Success! Seriously, I never win anything... I can't wait to go get all of those things done!!!



Other than spending time with my kids, the main thing that made this weekend great was hearing that my brother is back in the country! He has been in Iraq since January and hasn't met Tate yet. He'll be arriving in MN on Saturday and we can't wait to see him! Avery is counting the days until she can see her uncle John and tells her "prettyschool" teacher every morning how many days are left. :)



I feel like I should expand a bit on what I wrote in my last entry. I don't mean to get frustrated with our situation, but there will be bumps in the road sometimes. The past few weeks were one of those bumps. I've tried so hard to be patient with Tate's development, and I think I've done a pretty good job. I'm fine with him learning to sit, crawl, stand, and walk on his own time. I can even be patient with speaking. The eating was really frustrating me though. We had been trying for three months to get him to eat baby food. He likes the food and can get it into his mouth just fine. It's moving the food back to swallow that was causing the problem; he would always stick out his tongue and the food would just drool out of his mouth. I know that it will take Tate longer to learn things, including motor skills like eating. It just gets hard to be patient when I could tell that he wanted to eat, but just couldn't get the skill down. Add to that (warning: TMI) the fact that he gets painfully constipated and eating solid foods would help the problem, I felt like I was stuck. Josh and I decided to call a private therapy company and discuss whether more therapy would be a good idea. In typical Tate fashion, as soon as I called to set up evaluations with a ST (speech therapist), OT (occupational therapist) and PT (physical therapist), he figured out the eating thing and hasn't looked back.

Back to work now. I'll post Halloween pictures this week... they're really cute!

Out of my funk...

I have to admit that I've terrible about blogging lately... The main reason is because we've still been pretty busy, but I've also been a bit frustrated with how things are progressing with Tate and didn't want to rehash it all here. Things are better now, and we've set up some appointments so see if Tate needs additional therapy. We'll do whatever they recommend and just want to feel like we're doing everything possible to help Tate reach his full potential. On a bright note, solid foods are going much better now. He just decided to take off on them last week. I'm relieved, as almost three months of struggles were part of what was getting to me. Woo hoo Tate!

Avery is doing well too. We've had a bit of trouble getting her to listen lately. By listen, I mean obey Josh and I. Well, I think she really has trouble listening. She can hear fine, but is too busy thinking about other things that she doesn't really hear what we're telling her. Tonight I asked her not to put stickers on Tate's face. She said okay, but was dancing around and not looking all that attentive. So, I asked her what I'd just said to her. She said "mommy you said no hitting." Ummm, no I didn't. So I said the sticker thing again and followed it up by asking her what I said. That time she replied "mommy, you said no gymnastics in the house." This process was repeated a total of five times until she was actually able to repeat what I'd said. I guess we'll have to make sure she's listening better... if she doesn't hear what we say, how could she follow the directions?

That's all for now. My hubby just got back from a weekend up north hunting and I'm going to go spend time with him. More updates to follow soon!

Can I get a raincheck??

Okay, my plan to post tonight will just have to wait. I just got home from my trip to Albertville and would like to spend the rest of my night with my hubby and not on the computer. I'll leave a few pictures and post in the next few days!

Here is Avery enjoying the snow we got on Sunday. The weather was not great... 40-50 mph gusts and snow, but she loved playing outside for a few minutes! I'm looking forward to this winter and playing in the snow with her... I think she'll enjoy it much more than last year when all she could do was waddle around in her snowsuit for a few minutes before asking to go back inside. :)

Tate sleeping in the middle of playtime... He has been doing this quite a bit lately. Overall Tate is doing well, but still fighting the cold and congestion. I'm getting a bit frustrated with the situation as it's been going on for two months now, but mostly just feel bad for the little guy.

Coming soon...

I was going to post an update today, but am headed to Minneapolis to visit some friends from chiropractic school instead. I will be back tonight and will update then. I have lots to share!

21st Tidbit!

I didn't take time to blog today, but here is a quick link to a cute video. I love it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-qTfoJER18

Our vacations last week went great! I had a wonderful, relaxing long weekend in NY without the kids... Josh had a wonderful, probably not so relaxing time with the kids in Wisconsin. :) He did enjoy spending the weekend with them but I think was more than happy to share the parenting duties with me again!

I'll update more on our vacations in the next few days (pictures too!) but am off to bed now!

Missing my babies...

Josh and the kids left this morning to spend the weekend with his family in the Wisconsin Dells. I just got home and I can honestly say that I thought I would enjoy the quiet... but I really miss the noise. I'm excited for their weekend and know that Avery and Josh will have a great time (Tate has fun wherever he is!). I am off to NY to visit my friend Berit for the weekend while my family is away. I've never been to NY and haven't been able to spend much time with Berit for years; I'm sure we'll have a great time! I fly out early tomorrow morning though so I should get started (yes, started :) on packing.

One quick note: I did find a new daycare for Tate. I'm not sure if I've ever gone into much detail on here, but we just weren't thrilled with the care he was getting. We found a great home daycare with eight kids (including Tate) and are really excited about getting him started there. We have chosen to keep Avery at the center for now. She loves it there and always has a great time. It will be difficult having them in two separate places, but we have to do what is best for them. Tate should start his new daycare in a few weeks- we'll keep you all posted!

Tate is also on another nebulizer med for his cough; this cough has been around since Labor day. We are now doing two meds twice a day, so it will add a bit of time to our morning routine. If the combo of meds helps his cough, we'll do it.

Okay, off to pack now. Have a great weekend!

New pictures of the kiddos

They are in no particular order, but here are some new pictures of Avery and Tate.

Avery working on her "homework" for preschool. She was so proud of it!




The standard Avery/Tate picture... Avery hovering right next to Tate. :)



Tate using the nebulizer for the first time. I thought the mask would be an easy way to make sure he got enough of the medication, but he hated having the mask on. We now use the blow by instead (see next photo).




Tate using the blow by neb attachment. He's not supposed to eat the tube, but he puts everything in his mouth. At least he's getting the meds, right?

Daddy and Tate relaxing.

Tate practicing his newfound ability to bear weight on his arms to sit upright! His trunk muscles (abs and back) still aren't quite strong enough to actually sit without support, but he loves to sit propped up on his arms like this. Cutie!

Ave examining a slug. She loved watching it, but wouldn't touch it. She wanted me to pick it up for her. Uh, I don't think so.

Tate in the bathtub at 6 weeks-ish old. Check out how different he looks in the tub now!

Tate enjoying his bath (8 months).

I always feel bad that there are more pictures of Tate than Avery, but she is less than cooperative for pictures right now. I asked her if I could take her picture the other day and this is the look I got. Cute, huh? When she gets out of this picture funk I promise to add more of her. :)

One quick funny story before I head to bed. Josh was making dinner when I got home from work tonight and I was talking to Avery in the dining room. We had just gotten a flyer from her gymnastics studio in the mail so I asked if she wanted to take gymnastics this winter. She said yes, so I asked if she wanted to take gymnastics with mommy or daddy or if she thought she was a big enough girl to take gymnastics all by herself. Her eyes lit up and she said "I wanna take gymnastics by myself!" But her excitement was followed a few seconds later with a look of concern. Almost immediately, she said "But I don't know how to drive! I don't know how to get there!" Josh and I just laughed and explained to her that taking gymnastics class by herself meant that we'd drive her there and she could take the class while we wait in the hallway. Her response to that was "No, I want you to drop me off and then leave!" Typical Avery.

I'm back!

Kids Day is over and I've officially rejoined the world! The event went very well and needless to say, I'm relieved that it's over. I'll post some pics from the event soon. I've spent the past few days enjoying time with my kiddos as they had missed quite a bit of time and attention from their momma in preparation for Kids Day.

We are looking forward to a weekend of family time before we head our separate ways next week. Josh and the kids are off for a long weekend with Janet and Taylar and I'm off to NY to visit my friend Berit. I'm very excited but am starting to feel a bit of guilt for leaving them for so long... I had planned to take Tate with me but then realized that if I'm only going for three days, I might as well go by myself so we can do what we want to do without having an infant along who needs to be fed every four hours. Plus, Janet and Taylar haven't seen the kids since August and I know they'll be thrilled to spend some time with them.

I'll add more soon and will post pics later this week. Have a great week!

Seriously. Cutest. Kids. Ever.

We see this look of mischief often... :)

Even though we can't see their faces, I LOVE this pic!

I love that smile!

It worked this time!

We are now the proud owners of a......

Nebulizer!!! Not quite as exciting as I made it out to be, huh? I can't say that I'm excited about it, but it will be nice to give Tate the meds he needs through the neb instead of orally. I'm not sure if I posted this before, but he was on oral prednisone and albuterol for a cough a few weeks ago. The nurse practitioner at his clinic had prescribed the meds for a cough (yes, he needs the meds for just a cough... because his airways are smaller than a typical kid and his low muscle tone means a less productive cough, a simple cough can turn into pneumonia very quickly). I wasn't big on the idea of giving him meds (that would be the crunchy chiropractor side of me), I did it because she thought it was best. She suggested doing the meds orally because it was only a three day course of meds and it wouldn't be worth the hassle of renting a nebulizer for only three days. I'm no expert, so I agreed with her recommendations. The meds did the trick, although did make Tate very jittery. Fast forward to this week, when Tate's coughreturned. I talked to Tate's doctor yesterday during Avery's appointment and explained that I was feeling rattling in his lungs. She told me that infants shouldn't be given oral albuterol as it makes them shaky. So, we rented the neb and are to give Tate albuterol as needed. That means whenever he gets a cough, he gets the albuterol. I'm not crazy about the idea, but hospitalization is the last thing we need.

Avery's three-year checkup went well yesterday. The doctor asked if she could get dressed by herself. Yep. "Can she put her socks on?" Yep. "Can she button and zip her pants?" Yep. "Can she count to five?" Yep. "How high can she count?" Thirty in English, ten in Spanish. It appears that she's met all of the appropriate milestones for her age, and then some. The shocker of the day was that she is 41 inches tall! That's 100+%ile for her age. She's at the 85%ile for weight. She was only 38.5 inches tall on her birthday, so it's no wonder that she only lasted in 3T clothes for three or four months! Her doctor said that she is healthy overall and doesn't need to be seen again until age 4.

The Buddy Walk went well last weekend. It was a huge event. I'd guess there were 5000 people there! Josh, myself, Avery, Tate, Grandma Jane, Grandma Linda, Travis, Teresa, Jeff and Terese did the walk. Grandma Janet and Auntie Taylar were home with the flu, but we know they wanted to be there. :) The event consisted of a 1.5 mile walk and many fun activities for kids. We'd like to spend a bit more time there next year! I think it will be especially fun once Tate gets a bit older and can enjoy all of the activities. Avery wore her "My brother got an extra chromosome and all I got was this t-shirt" shirt and we had many people ask us where we got it. We told her the shirt says "I love my little brother" so she wants to wear it all the time. She still has no idea that there is anything different about Tate and so we figure a little white lie about the shirt is okay.

Josh is still busy with school and Sheels (he'll be putting in his two week notice soon... even if I have to walk him there to get him to do it :). I'm still running around like a crazy lady planning my Kids Day event. October 4th will be here before I know it and I'll be able to rejoin the world of the living!

Here are a few more pics of the Buddy Walk. Thanks to all of you who came and walked. It means a lot to us that our families support not only Tate, but our entire family. We love you!

Sorry Jeff and Terese- I tried to get a cute pic of you two and Ave up, but it keeps giving me an error. I'll try again tomorrow!

An Averyism for all of you...

On Wednesday night Josh was working on a deck after school and I worked until 6 PM. My mom picked the kids up from daycare and took them out to her house until I picked them up around 6:30. As we were driving home, I was telling Avery that I had to go to a friend's house later that night so she and Tate would get to stay home with Daddy. She said "Is Daddy going to babysit me?". I laughed and said that when Daddy is home with her it's called parenting, not babysitting. Nothing more was said about it until we walked in the house. Josh had just gotten home. Avery ran up to him and very excitedly said "Daddy, you get to parent me tonight!!!". Josh and I laughed for quite awhile on that one. You gotta love the innocence of a child who gets so excited about something so ordinary. :)

We're still here...

Sorry for the lack of blog posts lately. I've been swamped and stressing with the planning for my Kid's Day America event. The event is on October 4th, so we're scrambling with last minute preparations and reservations for equipment, etc. Nevermind that I have a full-time job and two kids on top of that!

School is going well for Josh. There is a second grader from his school that was in a car accident before school started and is now paralyzed from the waist down. If you'd like to read more about her, check out her caringbridge site at www.caringbridge.org/visit/brynnduncan . Her situation has weighed heavily on our minds since it happened. Josh has been fortunate to be involved in fundraising for her family through his K-Kids club at school. If you live in town and are around on October 25th, there will be a pancake breakfast held at Robert Asp Elementary. All proceeds will go to Brynn and her family. I'll keep you updated as the date approaches.

The kids are doing well. Tate had his opthalmology appointment recently (last week maybe?) and it went well. The doc said Tate should continue with yearly eye exams but that he didn't think Tate would need glasses anytime before kindergarten! I was thrilled with that news as I was really expecting that he would need them before he was walking. I can't imagine trying to keep glasses on him- he's so squirmy! He continues to get stronger and is working on bearing weight on his arms more in preparation for crawling. Solid foods are going a bit better, but he still spits a fair bit out with most bites. He is improving though, so we're excited about that.

Avery is still a little spitfire. She is mouthy... not so much in a disrespectful way, but she just doesn't understand what is appropriate to say and when it is appropriate timing. The other day Josh was trying to get her dressed and she just wanted to lay on her bean bag chair and rest. She looked at him and said "Daddy, keep your hands to yourself!". She then told Josh that she learned about that because at lunch time at "pretty school" (as she calls it... we've tried and tried to explain that it is preschool) :) they have to keep hands to themselves. Then a few nights later she was frustrated because Josh was telling her to eat her dinner and she yelled at him "DADDY- ZIP YOUR LIPS!". So Josh and I explained to her that she couldn't talk to Daddy like that because it wasn't nice. She immediately opened her mouth and said "DADDY - ZIP YOUR LIPS PLEEEEASE!". It's so hard not to laugh at her, but really it won't be funny if she keeps up that behavior.

On the bright side, Avery is still as loving as ever with Tate. He is the first person she wants to see in the morning (she wants nothing to do with her parents, of course....) and her lingering goodbyes at daycare in the morning are adorable (they're in different rooms). I hope that her loving attitude will continue towards him forever.

We have the Down Syndrome Association of MN Buddy Walk this weekend in St. Paul, so we're looking forward to that. I'll update again soon and will add pictures, I promise!

Star Tribune article on Down syndrome

Here is an article just posted on Star Tribune.com... It's a great article and I love the very last sentence. It brings tears to my eyes! Tate is everything we could've hoped for in a baby and, like Sarah Palin, (Josh will cringe when he sees himself compared to a Republican...) we think Tate is a beautiful, perfect blessing.


WASHINGTON – In addition to Barack Obama making history as the first African-American to be nominated for president and Sarah Palin taking her shotgun to the glass ceiling, there was a third civil-rights barrier broken at the political conventions this year.
Trig Paxson Van Palin — pronounced by his mother "beautiful" and "perfect" and applauded at center stage of the Republican convention — smashed the chromosomal barrier. And it was all the more moving for the innocence and indifference of this 4-month-old civil-rights leader.
It was not always this way. When John F. Kennedy’s younger sister Rosemary was born mentally disabled in 1918, it was treated as a family secret. For decades Rosemary was hidden as a "childhood victim of spinal meningitis." Joseph Kennedy subjected his daughter to a destructive lobotomy at age 23. It was the remarkable Eunice Kennedy Shriver who talked openly of her sister’s condition in 1962 and went on to found the Special Olympics as a summer camp in her back yard — part of a great social movement of compassion and inclusion.
Trig’s moment in the spotlight is a milestone of that movement. But it comes at a paradoxical time. Unlike with African-Americans and women, civil-rights protections for people with Down syndrome have rapidly eroded over the last few decades. Of the cases of Down syndrome diagnosed by prenatal testing each year, about 90 percent are eliminated by abortion. Last year the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended universal, early testing for Down syndrome — not just for older pregnant women. Some expect this increased screening to reduce the number of Down syndrome births far lower than the 5,500 we see today, perhaps to fewer than 1,000.
The wrenching diagnosis of 47 chromosomes must seem to parents like the end of a dream instead of the beginning of a life. But children born with Down syndrome — who learn slowly but love deeply — are generally not experienced by their parents as a curse but as a complex blessing. And when allowed to survive, men and women with an extra chromosome experience themselves as people with abilities, limits and rights. Yet when Down syndrome is detected through testing, many parents report that genetic counselors and physicians emphasize the difficulties of raising a disabled child and urge abortion.
This is properly called eugenic abortion — the ending of "imperfect" lives to remove the social, economic and emotional costs of their existence. And this practice cannot be separated from the broader social treatment of the disabled. When we eliminate less-perfect humans, deformity and disability become more pronounced and less acceptable. Those who escape the net of screening are often viewed as mistakes or burdens. A tragic choice becomes a presumption — "Didn’t you get an amnio?" — and then a prejudice. And this feeds a social Darwinism in which the stronger are regarded as better, the dependent are viewed as less valuable, and the weak must occasionally be culled.
The protest against these trends has come in interesting forms. Last year, prochoice Sen. Edward Kennedy joined with prolife Sen. Sam Brownback to propose a bill that would have required medical professionals to tell expectant parents that genetic tests are sometimes inaccurate and to give them up-to-date information on the quality of life that people with Down syndrome can enjoy. The bill did not pass, but it was a principled gesture from Rosemary’s brother.
Yet the prochoice radicalism held by Kennedy and many others — the absolute elevation of individual autonomy over the rights of the weak — has enabled the new eugenics. It has also created a moral conflict at the heart of the Democratic Party. If traditional Democratic ideology means anything, it is that America is a single moral community that includes everyone. How can this vision possibly be reconciled with the elimination of Down syndrome children from American society? Are prochoice Democrats really comfortable with this choice?
The family struggles of political leaders can be morally instructive. Contrast the attitude of Joseph Kennedy with that of Charles de Gaulle, who treated his daughter Anne, born with Down syndrome in 1928, with great affection. The image of this arrogant officer rocking Anne in his arms at night speaks across the years. After her death and burial at the age of 20, de Gaulle turned to his wife and said, "Come. Now she is like the others."
And now we have met Trig, who is just like the others, in every way that matters.

Camping!!

I finally have a few minutes to post about our camping trip. We were all very excited about the trip until a few days before we left when I started to wonder if we were crazy. I mean come on, a three-year old and a 6 month old in a tent? For three days? All my worrying was for naught... we had a great time!

We got into Park Rapids on Friday afternoon about 5:00. Josh dropped the kids and me off at the hotel where my friend Berit and her family were staying and he went on to the park to set up the tent. The kids swam (even Tate!) and it was nice to have time to talk to Berit and Emil. When Josh returned we went out for dinner which is an interesting thing with three small kids. :) After dinner we went out separate ways. They went to their hotel and we to our tent. It was dark when we got to our campsite, but we set up the lantern and were ready for lights out soon after. The first night was quite chilly; I'd say it got down to about 50 degrees. Because it was so chilly (and I'm paranoid), I woke up every 20-30 minutes to see if Avery was still covered up and if Tate was staying warm enough. Avery was coughing quite a bit and wound up in our bed for a few hours. At about 3 AM, I thought Tate was getting a bit chilly so I shifted Avery back to her bed and brought Tate in with us. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much. Josh, meanwhile, slept like a baby and didn't realize there were even kids in bed with us. That's okay though, because he got up with Tate at 5:30 to feed him and Avery and I got to sleep a bit more.

Saturday morning Berit, Emil and Mathia came by the campsite with breakfast and the kids got to play at the playground for a bit. I wish I could've taken more pictures of the girls playing together, but my camera lens broke sometime before we arrived at Itasca; it would only take photos of objects far in the distance. I was frustrated, but it meant that after Berit and Emil left we could head back into Park Rapids and buy a point and shoot camera that I've been wanting for a while.

So, Berit and Emil left at 10:30. I figured we could get to Park Rapids (25 minutes away), buy a camera, a pan (to cook our eggs the next two mornings), eggs (we'd forgotten them at home) and a few other things we thought would make camping easier. Long story short, Tate got hungry just before we left, so we fed him (45 minutes); Avery had to use the potty (10 minutes), I had to change (5 minutes), and we had to get the pickup loaded up (5 minutes). We didn't even get out of Itasca until after noon and because everything takes longer with two kids, we didn't get back until 2:30. We tried to get Avery to nap when we got back, but napping in a tent when you can hear other people outside is tough. We opted to walk to the headwaters of the Mississippi River instead. It was a 4.5 mile walk (round trip) on hilly terrain. We're not used to the hills and pushing a double stroller uphill is a challenge (or at least it looked challenging... Josh did the hard work). The effort was well worth it; both kids napped on the way there and the scenery was amazing! When we got back to the campsite we made dinner (burgers and beans over the fire and fruit). After dinner we sat around the fire and made campfire apple pies. Bedtime came early and we all slept like babies that night.

Josh got up and made a great egg breakfast Sunday morning. After we fed Tate, showered, and got ready to go, we headed to the bike rental shop. We had gone back and forth on whether or not to rent bikes, but decided to try it. We rented two bikes and two bike trailers; because Tate can't sit up on his own, we had to put his carseat in the bike trailer (yes, it was safe... it was the bike shop's recommendation). With a carseat in a trailer, there is no room for another child. So, my hope of Josh having a trailer with both kids and me getting to ride alone didn't really pan out. If you've never biked with a trailer behind you, you won't believe me when I say that even pulling Tate was a lot of extra work. Between the hills and the added weight of Tate, the trailer and the carseat, my legs were shaking after only a few miles. We had fun though. We biked up to the headwaters (and walked across this time), stopped at the snack shop to get Avery a snack, biked back to our campground, and back to the bike shop. We had the bikes for 1.5 hours and biked maybe five miles because we had to stop pretty frequently. I'm glad we hadn't rented them all day because the kids wouldn't have handled it well, but it was a fun way to travel within the park and fill up a bit of the day. The rest of the day we just hung out at the playground and the campsite. Our scary lesson for the night happened while making dinner... a man from the neighboring campsite came over and started making small talk with us. He seemed like a nice enough guy, was camping with his wife, and was from the same town as us. In the course of a five minute conversation, we'd discussed where (which neighborhood) we lived, our occupations, even where Avery goes to daycare (I know, BAD move!!!). He'd shared the same info with us so we hadn't thought anything of it. After he headed back to his campsite, Josh and I discussed what we'd just done. We had never been in a position where we'd given out so much personal information before and both of us were a bit freaked out by the whole thing. After lying awake thinking about it for awhile, I decided that he could get all the info except Avery's daycare just by searching the internet. It's a scary time to be raising kids! Back to dinner though...dinner was sandwiches over the fire and we had smores for dessert... yum! Sleeping was okay after I finally fell asleep- I spent quite a while worrying about our encounter with our neighbor.

Monday we woke up and Josh tried to make omelets in a bag. We did something wrong and they didn't turn out, so we decided to walk up to the headwaters and get muffins. Avery was so excited about muffins. Luckily, she fell asleep when we go there because the cafe didn't open for two more hours. She woke up halfway back to the campsite and was irritated because she didn't have a muffin; she also had to go potty and there were no restrooms in sight. Avery had her first wilderness bathroom experience. There are photos (thanks, Josh... I'm sure Avery will appreciate that when she's older!) but we'll spare her dignity. :) After getting back to our campsite we played at the playground for a bit and packed up to head back to our house. We stopped in Park Rapids for pizza and were back to town by early afternoon.

It was difficult for Avery to be so off her schedule (read: numerous temper tantrums) but she had fun for the most part. Sleeping in a tent was fine, but there were times when I felt a bit awkward disciplining Avery in plain view. We don't spank or yell, but when we're in a wide open area like that and Avery misbehaves, I feel judged. I'm guessing every parent feels like that. We definitely appreciate the privacy we have at home though! All in all, we had fun and are hoping to camp next year too. It will never be an every weekend think for us, but we had fun and will try it again. With a kid who will likely be crawling next summer, it might not be quite as easy... we'll wait and see!

I'll post more pics later- have to get ready for a night out with my husband now!