Moving on ...

For one, from a not so user(kid)friendly back yard to a fun one! We are finally all set to build a deck, and are so excited about it! We have been wanting to do this ever since we moved in (what is a Bryan/Mooiweer family house without an outdoor living room?), and especially since having Andi, a nice deck for her to play on would be very nice. Last weekend we went to Cheyenne to buy the first bits of lumber for it, of course to be inspected by miss Andi:

Telling us all about how we should go about building this deck....

Moving on ....

I have written a post before about how Andi has a favorite drawer in almost every room of the house that she likes to empty out all the time. Of course there is also one in our bedroom. It is almost a daily routine that she goes in there and does her thing....see pictures. Though I was not quite sure about posting these pictures showing the contents of this drawer on the world wide web for whomever to see (since Andi of course picked as her favorite drawer my underwear drawer), I thought to myself "well, what's the big deal...everyone knows what underwear looks like, nothing to be embarrassed about :) " ... they were too cute :)

Riddle me this though: as soon as she gets her hands on a pair of my underwear she immediately puts it on her head, and parades around with it endlessly like it is the prettiest, most fashionable piece of headwear yet, but, when we are out in the sun and she has to wear an actual hat, as soon as she realizes it is there, she hates having it on, and will fight me for it taking it off!

Notice one pair around her neck, and one pair on her head:

Two pairs around her neck, 1 on her head :)

On a different note, this has been quite our week: Andi and I have both been battling a pretty stout cold, and on top of that Andi got mastitis! Her little nipple and surrounding area were red and inflamed, and she had almost a pea sized lump in there as well. I thought this was something *fun* reserved just for nursing moms, but apparently even little baby girls can get this. Pretty amazing to know that everything in her anatomy is already there! She is on the mend now though, and feeling better.

Also moving on, on a bittersweet note: Andi is almost weaned. I think it will only be a matter of days now and she will be done nursing. We had been down to two nursings a day for a while now, that she and I still really enjoyed. It was always my intention to keep nursing her for as long as she wanted to (within a certain limit of course). I had heard from others that at some point their kids started to wean themselves and figured that would be a good option for us too. That however never seemed to be the case with Andi, as she has always been a fantastic nurser, just loving every minute of it, snuggling up. So, I was starting to wonder if this whole weaning thing was something I had to be more active about by actually cutting her off?...I mean you have to stop at some point...but what point? ... but I didn't really feel like cutting her off! We were doing just fine :) But, I guess a praise to me: starting this week, all of a sudden she is taking control herself I guess, and showing FAR less interest in nursing, and things are coming to an end quickly. We nurse once a day now, but really I think that is more for my sake than hers. :) Again, bittersweet. I think it is so fun that she is getting older, moving on and developing (she is SO close to walking!), but those moments with just the two of us will definitely be cherished.

Snap Happy

I've been a little picture snap happy lately, and here is the result :)

The guys before leaving on their road trip to Minneapolis to help move the Winegars:

A little bird flew into our window, and Andi and I had fun watching it recover out on the concrete...first I thought it was about to keel over, leaning on one leg, but after about 10 minutes it flew away :)

Climbing the stairs with daddy:

A couple of days in a row Andi wasn't very keen on taking a morning nap. After not being able to run for 2 weeks with shin splints, then bad weather, after 2 days of very short treadmill runs due to no naps, on the 3rd day I was *ITCHING* for a nice sweaty run, so I finally just decided to give the TV a try...parked Andi in front of it. Sometimes you've gotta do what you've gotta do :) First run watching Dora the Explorer :)

On Friday we went swimming with Lori and Jaime....Love the pool!

And...sleep, sweet sleep:

The weekend.

Friday afternoon after work we and the Ennists headed up to Guernsey and stayed with Debbie's parents (John and Kathy) for a night because the guys wanted to install a hitch (that John had) in the back of their pickups. I guess this is the place to install a hitch, because not only is John an excellent mechanic, but apparently he also has a shop many men dream of, with a tool for every job. Of course while the men worked, us ladies and kids did our own thing, and at mealtimes all of us were treated to absolute feasts prepared by Kathy.
I can see why Debbie loved growing up here, because the place is absolutely gorgeous: rolling hills of green, fields of wheat and fields of prairie with cows, small canyons in between, all with snowcapped mountains in the background. Of course it is still in Wyoming and it was quite windy, but that is beside the point.
Saturday morning Debbie's grandpa took us ladies and kids all in his pickup to go feed their cows. Quite the little search hunt to find all 67 cows to feed on such a large chunk of land! It was a beautiful drive. Andi didn't like the ride that much, since it was bumpy and during her naptime, but as soon as we would spot a cow coming up over a hill, she'd start smiling and pointing her little finger in excitement! It really was fun to see all those cute little baby cows walking alongside their mommas!

Andi sitting on the back of the pickup next to Debbie, pointing her little finger at the cows, with Debbie's grandpa feeding the cows in the background.

Cutie.

Little miss tongue and I

Debbie feeding the cows. Moo...

On the ride back home to Laramie, Tyler wanted to ride in the pickup with us. After a little while though we noticed things sure got quiet on the back seat:

One more random picture from the weekend...the little ruffle butt playing in the kitchen drawers: