Wonderings and Wanderings: October 2007

I Need a Hobby

I think I need a new hobby. Something I can do while sitting in the doctor's office! Now I’m on schedule for dr. appointments every 3 weeks instead of every 4. I think that means it’s getting closer! I think that means we better start getting baby stuff ready!!!! I have to go for a 3 hour test to rule out gestational diabetes and it has me a little nervous. Both because it makes me nervous and because I don’t really want to sit there in the office for 3 hours!!! Maybe I’ll take some work or homework or crocheting with me. Either I’ll get a lot done or I’ll make a dishcloth or two!!! We’ll see what I feel like at 7:30am!!!!!!

The Well Dressed Baby

While we were in MN we had a sort of “Baby Shower” with Mom and Dad and got some presents from the Scherschlight’s and Sargent’s too. When we got home we had a present from the church I worked at in IL and a box from one of our friends with some CUTE stuff and a handmade baby blanket too! I have no idea how many baby clothes a baby uses or how fast they grow out of them but, Baby Heimer is going to be well dressed in blue, at least for the first weeks/months! Here are some pics of the cute stuff!

Presents from Luz - cute! and a beautiful blanket!

More clothes, some cute bibs, and a little friend from Luz!

Actually some things that AREN'T blue ~ these people didn't know that it was a boy ~ but variety is good!

I think he's going to be the best dressed boy in town!

Barely Home

We got back from NY on Monday and on Wednesday flew to MN for Lanae’s (Krysia’s cousin) wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and was LOTS of fun to see all of my family!

Us with my parents - also some of my favorite people!

A few of my cousins - more of my favorite people!

My Grandma & Grandpa - more of my favorite people! (I'm allowed to have lots of favorites!)

We were able to stay in MN for almost a week after the wedding and even though we spent some time doing homework and little time doing work – we were mostly able to relax and enjoy spending some time with my parents. We even celebrated my dad’s birthday for about 3 days!

We took a train ride on the Minnesota Zephyr and ate WAY too much food!

The Zephyr is a little old and had a few leaks in the rain so Mom had to sit with her bucket to catch the water! She didn't get any champagne - but she did get a free glass. Oh, and Stephen, Mom, and Dad all got free drinks for the bother!

We also went to a dinner / comedy show at the Channhassen.

And, we got to spend some extra time with the Scherschlight’s and Sargents. FUN FUN FUN!!!

Since we’ve been traveling so much and we have quite a bit to go in the next month, I decided that I’m going to start a log of all of Baby Heimer’s miles (flying and driving) before birth and see how far he gets! So far here is the list. So far everything is roundtrip.

Flying: TTD (total to date): 8862 miles

ElP to MN for Grandpa Kludt’s funeral: 2466 miles

ElP to NY for Naomi’s wedding: 3930 miles

ElP to MN for Lanae’s wedding: 2466 miles

Driving: TTD (total to date): 2663 miles

From MN to Huron, SD for Grandpa Kludt’s funeral: 576 miles

ElP to Colorado Springs, CO for Doug Mauss’s wedding: 1464 miles

From MN to Mitchell, SD for Lanae’s wedding: 623 miles

Lots of Adventure

Well, we have had a lot of adventures lately. Baby Heimer is logging A LOT of miles even before he is born!

Our first adventure of this month was to fly to New York with a few people from the mariachi group for Naomi’s wedding. It was a fast weekend and we got pretty tired – but it was a lot of fun. An unexpected part of this adventure is that we had this crazy cool bus/camper to drive around. Stephen and I were stuck in the cockpit (no kidding, there really was a section blocked off like a cockpit!) pretty much the whole time while the rest hung out in the back.

The crazy bus

The crew hanging out in the back of the bus

Stephen driving the bus

In addition to wedding activities we got to visit Niagara Falls! We decided to be REALLY adventurous and visit the falls on the Canadian side. It gave me some perspective of what people who visit us here in El Paso must feel like when it is time to cross the border into Mexico.

Crossing the bridge into Canada

We weren’t really too nervous or anything but, we were wondering what it would be like, how the driving through in our crazy bus would be, and what the return trip would be like. Everything with the border crossings turned out to be a breeze and the return to the US was actually really fast (WAY faster than coming back from Mexico!) We did decide that we might not really know the specifics of driving in Canada when Stephen turned right after stopping at a red light and Rick (one of the men in the group) said “Umm, I’m not really sure if that is legal in Canada or not!” Oops!

We didn’t get to spend too long at the falls but we did go on a boat ride that takes you to the base of both the US and the Canadian falls. At one point we were almost completely surrounded by the falling water where the falls are shaped like a U! It was a good thing that they give out rain ponchos when you get on the boat because otherwise we all would have been SOAKED!

A View of the US Falls from Canada