You're Hired!

Eric starts his new job at Medtronic on Monday, December 28th. He'll be working in the Neuromodulation business on a clinical study evaluating a device for movement disorders. Since his last day at the University will be December 11, he'll be off through the holidays. Eric is very excited about his new job. Of course, we are very happy for him and proud of his perseverance to reach this big accomplishment. Congratulations Eric!

Surviving the Surgery Aftermath

Well, we're going on two weeks from when Eric had his surgery to repair his torn ACL. It's been a very busy time. I've been chasing Noah around while Eric ices and elevates his knee. From time to time, Noah is willing to sit on Eric's lap and listen to a story.

We're keeping up, but the house is beginning to be a bit of a disarray. The laundry is waiting until we don't have any more clothes to wear without doing a wash. While the dishes are washed every night, dinners have left a little to be desired.

Oh well. By the time that Eric has full mobility and we can fit back into our regular routine, I expect we'll have figured out how to manage in our current state.

The New Me

Ode to my hair...

It was once beautiful, lush and long.
It was thick and shiny with sun-bleached streaks.
But alas, it became just a toy for Noah to pull whilst riding in the baby backpack.
So on Thursday it was chopped and now we have a "New Me."

So far everyone has told me they like the new do.
Though I doubt anyone would tell me otherwise to my face.
It's taking me some getting used to... I still use too much shampoo and feel a little shocked when I reach back and there's nothing there with which to play.

But friends tell me the new style suits me well.
Eric tells me he has a new wife.
Noah no longer tries to pull it.
And best of all, I have more time for my little guy in the mornings because all I have to do is wash and go.

Get Together with the Becks

We had dinner with my Grandparents, Aunt, Uncle and cousins yesterday. We were celebrating an early Great Grandfather's day with my Grandpa. It had been a while since my grandparents had a chance to see Noah and they were more than happy to steal him off our laps and entertain him. Noah, of course, was the center of attention as he always is... He just soaked up the attention from all the relatives. My aunt made two great salads that I'm still thinking about today and my uncle grilled shrimp and brat kabobs. We were in charge of the munchies. We brought veggies and dip and pita chips and hummus. It was a fun evening with tons of good food. We headed home stuffed.

Noah found himself enthralled with the ceiling fan in the screen porch. He spent most of the evening staring at the fan from this angle and that. No matter who was holding him or what direction he was facing, Noah found a way to contort his body so that he could watch the ceiling fan turn above him. It was quite amusing to listen to him watch the fan and talk about how interesting Phil's fan is compared to our boring fan at home.

Driving out to visit the Becks reminded me again how long it's been since we were able to visit my dad. He hasn't seen Noah for quite some time. It's important to me to visit as often as possible, but life keeps getting in the way. Hopefully next weekend we can make the trip to visit.

Broken

Of all the things we can break in this world, the worst has to be when we break our own body. While it's never fun to deal with the occasional aches and pains that accompany everyday life, it's nothing compared to limping around after injuring yourself playing your favorite game... soccer. Last weekend, Eric found himself in just that place. He has just started playing his first game of the spring season with his co-ed team when a woman suddenly stopped directly in his path while he was running full speed. Eric made an attempt to avoid her and in doing so blew out his knee. This is not the first time Eric has injured his knee, so he was certain he knew exactly what he had done as soon as he heard the pop and fell to the ground. He called me from the field to tell me that he had been injured. At first I didn't believe him. He had to tell me three times before I realized that he wasn't pulling my leg. I was on my way back from playing my first game of the season and to pick up Noah from our friends house. Fortunately, our friends are two incredible people and Jennifer volunteered to continue watching Noah while Tim rode back to the field with me to pick up Eric's car. We caravanned back to our house where Tim dropped off Eric's car, then we headed back to his house for me to pick up Noah. THANK YOU, JENNIFER AND TIM!!!

Fortunately, Eric was able to get in to see his physician on Monday. He ordered x-rays and did a few functional tests. The x-rays were negative, so we knew nothing was broken. But we all suspected that Eric had torn his ACL again so his physician ordered an MRI. Luckily Eric was also able to get in for his MRI on Monday afternoon. Tuesday he was back to see his physician to find out the results. Our suspicions were correct. Eric did tear his ACL. He also tore his lateral meniscus. His physician referred him to the orthopedic surgeon. He saw the surgeon late in the week and discussed options. The surgeon recommended surgery to repair the ACL and address the torn meniscus. Eric's not excited about having surgery again, especially because the recovery will likely be longer this time than the last. But we're both coming to terms with the decision and trying to figure out the best time. We know to avoid winter when it will be icy on outside because Eric will be on crutches for about 4 weeks and he has a decent walk from his parking ramp to his office where he works. What we haven't decided is if he should try to get in before Noah becomes mobile, or is he should wait until fall so that we can finish some of the indoor and outdoor projects we have around home before he's laid up.

Eric is pretty sad that his soccer career is over, but he's keeping his eye on the future and looking forward to coaching Noah's soccer team someday. In the mean time, we're thinking of new hobbies that we can take up... ones that are likely to cause less bodily injury.

I'm still planning to play soccer this summer. I'm crossing my fingers that I can stay healthy and I'm hoping it will help me take off the last of the baby weight. But after this summer, I'll probably hang up my cleats too. Hopefully we can find our new hobbies together so we'll have something to look forward to next year.

Back to Work

Tomorrow's the big day. I'm going back to work. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet. I am excited to be going back to a new project and new challenges and to see my friends again. I'll be very busy and will need to take care to keep my work-life balance in check. It should be an new adventure at work; yet, I am already finding myself missing the cuddle time I've shared with little Noah each day. We've enjoyed our days together, talking, cooing and smiling. It's going to be hard for me to drop him off at daycare every morning because I'll be thinking about all of the fun I'll be missing with him throughout the day. So I am looking forward to tomorrow with both excitement and heartache. Hopefully, visiting Noah once in a while during the day will ease both of us through the transition.

We'll be sure to post again soon with an update on my first week at work. Also check Blogging Bambino to see what Noah thought of his first week at daycare.

Going Stir Crazy

After nearly 2 months of hanging out in the house with little Noah, we're finally starting to go a bit stir crazy. I am finding myself trying to invent errands that need to be run so that we can get out during the day. I love being home with Noah, but sitting inside these four walls leaves something to be desired. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it were 75 and sunny outside so that we could go for a walk to the park and around Como Lake. We've considered taking a trip to Como Zoo, but the walk from the parking lot is long and would be cold so we haven't found the courage to do so yet. Today we may head out to the Mall of America for a long walk so that "Mom" can get some exercise. It would be really great if St. Paul had an indoor park. I've heard there is one in Woodbury, but that's quite a drive. Maybe we'll head out there one day next week anyway.

If anybody has any suggestions of what to do with a little baby in the middle of a Minnesota winter, we're all ears!

Happy Turkey Day!

Okay, so I'm one day ahead... But I thought I would wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving now, just in case the little guy might interrupt our holiday plans. We're looking forward to a nice turkey dinner with Mom and the Grandparents tomorrow. Thanksgiving in our family is usually a potluck meal. Everyone brings a dish. This year, I am experimenting with a new recipe for Sweet Potato Streusel Casserole. The recipe sounds great and the commentary in the magazine where I found the recipe was glowing. So hopefully it's as good as I am anticipating it will be and everyone will enjoy a a new style of sweet potatoes this year. I also made cranberry-orange relish sauce. I tried to recreate the sauce Eric's mom makes for Thanksgiving, but I didn't have the recipe so hopefully I haven't created something awful. We'll find out tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Preparing for Baby

You may have noticed we haven't posted on At Home in Minnesota for a while. Well that's because there's not much exciting to report. We've been spending most of our time attending evening classes to learn about childbirth and what to do with the little guy when we bring him home. In the rest of our spare time, we've been cleaning and arranging the house so that it's ready for a baby. Fortunately babies don't come out mobile because our house is definitely not child-proofed yet. We still have some time to install all of the outlet covers, baby gates and cabinet latches. But I'm sure that time will come sooner than we expect it.

Despite our efforts, the list of things to do around the house before baby arrives continues to grow. It seems that every time I cross off one item, I find myself adding two more. There's also the challenge of keeping up with the cyclical chores like vacuuming to keep up with the kitty hair, laundry and cleaning the kitchen and bathroom. So we'll be spending yet another weekend working on chores around the house. Hopefully by the time baby arrives, the list will be down to the reoccurring chores and we won't have all the other items on our minds. We'll be busy enough taking care of baby when that time arrives. I'd rather not be worrying about anything else.

That's the short update. If you're interested in how things are going on the baby front, be sure to catch up on Blogging Bambino. ...And if you love cleaning house, feel free to stop on over. We'll put you right to work.

Cheers!

Big Changes On The Way

As many of you may have noticed, I haven't posted on At Home in Minnesota for a while. Well, now Eric and I can finally reveal the reason why that has been true. We've secretly been posting to a new blog until enough time had passed that we knew we were in the safe zone... Our new blog is called One New Williamson On The Way. The blog address is www.bloggingbambino.blogspot.com. There is also a link at the bottom of this page in "Related Links".

That's right you guessed it... We're pregnant and we've just entered our second trimester! It's been hard for the two of us to keep this secret and it may have slipped out to a few people, not to mention that we have some very inquisitive friends with stellar detective skills. But now that we have reached the second trimester and we're past the time of greatest risk for miscarriage, we're ready to share our news. We've overjoyed as we had been trying for quite some time and we are looking forward to the next ~6 months to prepare for the arrival of our little peanut.

Check out BloggingBambino for the updates on how the pregnancy has been going. At Home in Minnesota will remain active. We plan to keep posting about all other aspects of our lives right here.

Birthday Buzz

March 15th is a day for celebration of the life of a very special woman... my mother.

This is my mom.


Mom is an incredible woman. She's strong and caring and has the biggest heart of anyone that I know. I love spending time with my mom, and it's obvious she loves spending time with me. Last weekend, she spent three hours with me hemming pants. Now if that's not dedication to her family, I don't know what is... Mom could have been out enjoying the first Saturday of nice weather, but instead she sat at the kitchen table with me hemming my pants. Thank you. Mom!

We celebrated Mom's birthday last night with a fun dinner at Pop! restaurant. Pop! is one of those family favorite neighborhood restaurants. It has a great atmosphere and super food. It seemed like a great place to take Mom for her special day. We had an evening of good conversation and good food, a very good way to celebrate a special person.