Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Axel vs. Mango's

Last night, I decided to give it a go on the road to solid foods. Here's what happened...


Hmm.. This is different..


Let's try this again...





...He likes it!


This is fun!


I think I'm getting the hang of this!


All gone!


What?! All gone??


Who doesn't like to lick the spoon?


Mango's are yummy!!!!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Jamie's Baby Shower

Yesterday I had the honor of throwing a baby shower for one of my best friends ever, Jamie Orr! She is almost 38 weeks pregnant with her second child, a baby boy who she will name Benny. We are so excited to meet him any day now!

When I was pregnant with Axel, Jamie went all out and gave me lots of cute baby items. As if that wasn't enough, she then threw me a baby shower (with my Mom) and showered me with attention, and even more baby items! I am one lucky girl to have such a generous and thoughtful best friend. I love you Jamie! Right before we left Rexburg, I decided to return the love and throw Jamie a shower for baby B! After scouring the web in search of some inspiration, I decided on a circus/carnival theme! I have to say, the invitations were one of my favorite things..



The morning of the shower was a near disaster as Jordan and I didn't leave Milwaukee until about an hour before the shower was to begin, and our gps said it would take us 2 hours to get to Oshkosh (where the shower was held, at Jamie's home). I was freaking out in a big way. Then, as we were hitting the freeway, Jordan hesitantly said that he had forgotten to take the main part of the meal out of our freezer! WE WERE WITHOUT FOOD! All I had with us was junk food. This wasn't going to be the perfect shower I had so happily planned, without the main food! So... I cried. I cried really hard. Jordan felt terrible and rubbed my back and told me it would be okay so I stopped crying. Then I started again... even harder than the first time. This lasted about a half hour. I calmed down, dabbed my eyes, and reminded myself that Beverly Hills Real Housewife Lisa, would never behave in such a way, and decided to woman up and solve the problem. Jamie's mother in law could make a stop on her way to the shower and pick up what we needed.

Everything turned out! The display looked great, and my cake was a hit! (This was my first fondant cake, and I was pretty nervous to serve it in honor of my friend who is a pro at making them..) The theme carried out well, and Jordan was such a big help! We all had a wonderful time!



For the food I tried to copy as many carnival/circus foods as I could, without it having a cheap feel. The table was covered in bazooka bubble gum, cotton candy in mini muffin cups, popcorn, apples dipped in caramel, mini corn dogs, pretzels, potato salad with blue cheese and bacon (only we forgot to take it out of the fridge at Jamie's haha..) and moon pies!





Wednesday, January 12, 2011

All Moved In! ...mostly.

Finally, I feel like we are at home. We've been in our new apartment for about a week and a half now and as we continue to add our personal touches and decorative items it is really starting to feel like our place. Axel really seems to love it here, which is always a good feeling for me.

When we got here we had nothing as far as furnishings go, but in the last week we've somehow stumbled upon some INCREDIBLE deals. We have been seriously blessed in finding really nice furnishings for our place for prices that you would never expect! We are really happy with the way our living room has turned out, and we filled it up for about 75% less than it should have cost! We are very lucky!

Here are some photo's of our new place (minus the bedrooms as we do not have a dresser yet so our clothes are EVERYWHERE!)

The entrance to our apartment comes into the kitchen..




From the kitchen, there is a door to Axel's room, a door to the bathroom, and you can walk into the living room..



I LOVE our bathroom! It's pretty lacking on cabinet space, but I love the colors and the whole ambiance of the room. There is a door in the bathroom that also goes into the master bedroom (but like I said, you don't get to see that room yet..)

Our living room is a great size for the three of us, and fits our furniture perfectly. I've never really looked at red couches, but we got a fabulous deal on these, and I think they look nice in this room. We've also had our eye on cowhide rugs for quite awhile. We were thinking of saving up for one to buy in Jackson Hole, WY but they were still pretty expensive. While we were at IKEA we found one that was used as the display rug, so it was REALLY inexpensive! Yay for us! We live in what seems to be a pretty progressive neighborhood though, so I don't know if we'll be able to invite our neighbors over without them thinking we are animal haters haha. We're not!



So there you have it for now.. once we get the rest of the place in better shape, I'll post more pics :)

Lately Axel has been astounding us with his developments and growth! He is getting so strong and determined to do his own thing! Nothing gets past this little guy! He's still trying to get those teeth through his sore little gums, but he has been a trooper through this painful teething phase, and it looks like a couple of them should be poking through any day now.

He loves to try to sit up on his own. If he is leaning on one of us he will do anything he can to try to sit up! He's almost got it down on his own, but needs a little bit more balance before we let him do it without close watch. He is also well on his way to crawling! He loves being on his tummy and if he could only get his arms moving with his legs.. he'd be moving all over the place! Right now he has the concept of pushing his legs to get him going, but he doesn't really know what to do with his arms yet, so he can't quite get where he wants to go. He's almost there!
I feel so blessed to have a flexible job that allows me to be home with Axel so much! It is so much fun watching him grow and make connections. He is such a sweet boy with so much energy! He LOVES to talk. It's so funny to listen to him just jabber away to Jordan and I.




I have a few more photos I want to post, but something is up with my browser and it's not letting me click on the link to upload, so I'll post more later.

Anyways, it's great to have a "home" and start getting to know our new city!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Oy...

Wow, what a crazy month December has been for us! My goodness, I don't even know where to begin! I am currently sitting on the computer at my in-laws home in Randolph Wisconsin. Today, Axel had his baby blessing FINALLY! I wish I had a picture to post, but Grandma Stanley has all of those so I will post later. The wait was definitely worth it! Jordan gave the most beautiful blessing and we were so lucky to have such dear friends participate in it! It was wonderful to have my entire immediate family in attendance (minus my brother PJ who was feeling sick), and our dear friends, The Birkrems who drove all the way from Deerfield just to attend, and then quickly get to the airport to drop Bryana off. Thanks you guys!

The last 2 weeks have been such a blur as we've been trying to get around to all of our loved ones so we can visit them, and they can visit with Axel. He has been the main show at everyone's home and I think he thinks he's a celebrity. He is such a little charmer! He is still gabbing away and flashing his gorgeous smile at everyone who gives him a long enough stare. Especially girls, he loooooves the ladies!

We are almost all moved in to our new home in Milwaukee. It's actually weird being in a big city again, and it will take some time to get used to it. As much as I hate to say that it is true! I have missed diversity and culture so much, being in tiny little Mormon-filled Rexburg, but we live right between "the hood" and the eclectic homes surrounding UWM's campus, so I guess will adjust quickly. Our apartment is modest and cute, and was just remodeled! It has a gorgeous bathroom and brand new kitchen! The bedrooms are on the smaller side, so I guess I'll have to wait on that king-sized bed I've been lusting after.

We sold all of our furniture before we left Rexburg (the cost of a moving truck was ridiculous) so we are on the hunt for a couch, a bed, and all the little extra's. The couch and the bed are the main priorities though. Hopefully we will find those soon!

Jordan is on the hunt for a job that he can start soon, and I am begging him to take the job with DELTA that he interviewed for! I should probably be more sensitive as to whether or not he would even enjoy the job, but hello... isn't pretty much anything worth FLIGHT PERKS?!? Hello! Germany for under $100.00? YES PLEASE!!

At the end of January I have to attend the annual sales meeting for Image, down in West Palm Beach Florida, and as Axel is still pretty young, he gets to come with... and so does Jordan! I am so excited! Image covers everything except for Jordan's flight, so we got really lucky there. I will be in meetings all day, but we will have the evenings to hang out and Axel and Daddy can go have adventures on the beach! By the end of his 5th month, Axel will have seen the Atlantic and Pacific oceans! Not that he will have any recollection of any of these little vacations, but I didn't see the ocean until I was 15! So I am excited for Axel!

Anyways, that is basically the short version of what we've been up to and once we get all settled I will update with photos and more news!

Happy New Year dear friends! Thank you for being a part of our lives. I am so grateful for your friendships, love, and support!