The Linns in Minn

Several months ago, we mentioned to Ruby that we could get dougnuts when we went to vist Grandma in Michigan. Since then, everytime we've brought up the topic of out trip Ruby has reminded us that we were going to get doughnuts in Michigan. Finally over the week of Thanksgiving we were able to fulfill that promise and even though Ruby couldn't get the purple doughnut she had been dreaming about, she was able to get one covered with sprinkles and that seemed to be a close enough substitution to staisfy her fried pastry cravings. The rest of the trip was pretty good, too.

We left home Friday night and stayed overnight in Rockford, IL so we could do the drive through Chicago in the morning while we were still fresh. We got to the hotel room around 8pm and pulled out the hide-a-bed for Ruby. She was really excited to have a big bed like mommy and daddy. We got moving in the morning and had great weather for the rest of the trip. When we got to Grandma's house, Ruby found another special bed made just for her tucked in the closet of the guest room. One look at the Dora blanket on top and she jumped right in for her nap.

We spent the rest of the week visiting grandparents, opening early Christmas presents, playing with cousins, and eating a big turkey dinner. Grandma Janet babysitted one night so Melody and I could go out for an anniversary dinner (also the anniversary of the one time a year we go out to dinner alone). Our friends Matt and Emily came up to visit one night with their two kids. We left Friday after Thanksgiving and spent one night with Melody's sister in southern MI, so once again we were poised to get through Chicago early in the day. The rest of the trip went very well and we got home just after dark. The day after getting home, daddy got busy putting lights up on the house. It's time to start getting ready for Christmas!

Well, I knew if I waited long enough I'd have a bunch to write about. Papa Ron came for a nice visit in July on his big purple motorcycle. Ruby still talks about sitting on it and pushing the "honker". With the money from selling my Virago, I bought a used KLR650, basically a street legal dirt bike, for exploring gravel roads and trails in the area. Ruby calls it my "big motorsickle" because it's very tall and likes to help me wash the dirt and mud off of it.

In August, Grandma Janet and Grandpa Mike came for a visit. We went back to Oxbow Park and saw all the animals again. While we were walking around, Ruby began talking with a little boy who was about her age. They seemed to hit it off right away and were calling each other by name. We commented to the boys mother that they were getting along well and she agreed. Then we realized that the boy was one of the other kids in her daycare class. She was a little sad when we eventually went our different ways, but watching the dancing porcupine helped her forget all about it.

Melody's parents surprised us with a very nice used piano. We'd mentioned to them that we'd eventually like to let Ruby take piano lessons, so it was a very welcomed gift. In other furniture news, Melody and I bought a nice new bedframe for our new Select Comfort bed. It's dark wood headboard, with matching rails and footboard, with two drawers underneath the foot of the bed. The only problem is that with the drawers, our mattress, and the platform it sits on, the top of the bed is about 4 and-a-half feet off the floor! It's only a few inches shorter than the top of Melody's dresser. We need a trampoline to get in it! Still, the air at that altitude is very nice for sleeping.

And perhaps the biggest news of all is that Ruby is almost completely potty trained. She still wears pull-ups at night and has an occasional accident, but she is getting better everyday. She is really proud to be wearing big-girl underwear all day long now. Now if we could just get her to do laundry...

The holidays are coming soon and we are getting ready for our annual trip to see our family in Michigan. Ruby is looking forward to seeing grandmas and grandpas, and getting a look at Aunt Jessica's new house. The only thing we're not looking forward to is the long drive, but it's a small price to pay.

We've been having a good summer. Ruby has been having lots of fun at daycare. She got moved up to the Multi-Age Room a little earlier than planned due to some overcrowding in the Toddler Room. It took her a while to get used to the new kids, but now some of her friends from the Toddler Room are moving up, and she's a lot more excited to go in every day. They've had Bike Days when all the kids get to bring in their bikes. They have Water Days when the kids get to play and splash around. Last week they had a pizza party and set up a large, inflatable, jump house in the parking lot. This week is Jersey Day, and she'll get to wear her Detroit Red Wings Jersey that a friend of ours bought for her at a yard sale. I thought about buying her a Detroit Lions jersey, but that kind of thing can scar a kid for life.

In May we spent a day at Oxbow Park. It's a county park that's a zoo/nature preserve/historical center. Ruby got to pet a miniature pony and look at the Raptor Exhibit with owls, hawks, and eagles. We also saw turkeys, bison, caribou, wolves, otters, coyotes, mountain lions, and even a big black bear. Surprisingly, one of Ruby's favorite displays was the rattlesnake. Apart from that we've been spending as much time outside as the weather will allow, but between the wind, heat, and recent storms it's been kind of spread out. Still, we've been able to enjoy some nice days swimming in her pool, playing in the yard, or riding bikes and pulling Ruby in the trailer. She really likes it this year. Last year the trailer seemed to be more of an implement of torture. So either she's gotten over her fear of it, or she's realized that when she goes for a ride in it, we usullay end up at the playground. And as she'll gladly tell you: "I LOVE the park!"

Ruby moved in to her new toddler bed in early May. She took to it right away. She fell out the first couple nights, but has only done it a couple times since then. Luckily, it's close enough to the floor that she usually doesn't even wake up. We were a little worried that she would get up and run around, but so far she hasn't realized that she can get out of bed on her own. We'll go in to check on her in the morning thinking she's still asleep and find her just laying or sitting quietly waiting for us to tell her to get up.

Melody and I both had birthdays in June. I got a nice camera bag for my fancy new-to-me camera, and Melody got an iPod Nano. But as a result of our celebrations, one of Ruby's favorite new songs is the Happy Birthday song. She likes to sing it for everyone: Mommy, Daddy, Ruby, her friends, even our house, her bike, and...umm..."poopies". We drew the line at that one.

Melody and I went to a wedding yesterday, and Ruby got to spend the whole day with Grandma Esther. They ate lunch, read stories, and even went to the park. And in other grandparent news, we're looking forward to a visit from Papa Ron over the 4th of July weekend. We are also expecting a possible visit from Grandma Janet sometime this summer. Besides grandparents, Ruby also got to see her cousins Ashley and Andrew while they were spending two weeks with Grandma and Grandpa Asfahl and helping Uncle Milton out on the farm. Then she also got to see Aunt Melissa and Uncle Dave when they came over to take her cousins back to Michigan.

We did say goodbye to a beloved family member earlier this week when Daddy sold one of his motorcycles, the one Ruby most liked to sit on and honk the horn. Luckily, we still have the "Robot Cickle" so she wasn't too upset. Still, there were lots of tears and wailing.

But eventually Ruby and Melody got me calmed down.

It's May already, and things are going pretty well for us. Since her last bout of illness, Ruby has had two more fevers that have caused her to miss daycare. Her first was a case a roseola, which is basically just a high fever followed by a rash, which caused her to miss two days with temps around 105. The other was just this past week when she only had a fever of 103 (pretty mild for her it seems) but also had a runny nose and cough. That was another two days home. She's all better now except for a little bit of a runny nose, but she gave the rest of it to me at some point so I've been down and out since last Wednesday.

In non-illness news, Ruby will be getting moved up to a higher age classroom in the next week or so. They call it the multi-age room, which I think ranges from around two-years to pre-school age. I think it's pretty similar to where she is now, but with a little more structured teaching. She's working on getting potty trained. She uses her potty at home, but we usually have to ask her. We're hoping she'll turn a corner on that soon and start telling us when she has to go. We're also working on getting her out of her crib. I'm building her a toddler bed out of a sheet of plywood I've had sitting around since we finished the basement. I'll post some pictures when it's done. For now, just imagine the cutest toddler bed you've ever seen and pretend that's what it will look like.

Speaking of pictures, I've updated the photo albums with pictures from March and April. Last month, we bought a used DSLR camera (the fancy ones with the changeable lenses) from Melody's photographer friend and I've been trying to learn how to use it to get better pictures. Some of my first ones show up in the April photos - and in this entry. So in the future if you see some strange pictures here, that's just me experimenting.

And we've been spending money on more than just fancy cameras. A few weeks ago, we bought a Select Comfort bed (the adjustable air mattress kind) to replace the cheap 10-year old one we had. It's been something we've been needing for a couple years but haven't been able to do because we haven't had the money. We went with the Select Comfort based on recommendations of Melody's family and our experience using them in hotels that have them. So far it's pretty good, but the biggest benefit is being able to adjust the firmness. By the way, if you decide to buy one give them out name so we get some money!!

We also bought some "new" furniture we found on craigslist. We got really lucky and found a couch, loveseat, and ottoman in just the right style, color, and quality we wanted for a good price. We saw the ad the day it was posted, and that night it was in our living room. This purchase really was more of a need than a want because we really needed to put the old stuff in our upstairs living room out of it's misery. We were the third owners of that couch and chair, and both had spent significant time in storage and/or our old basement (which flooded occasionally). The couch was hanging on, but the chair was starting to fall apart. Neither one looked anything like what you could call clean. It didn't help that we gave up on trying to take care of them once Ruby was born, and she made her mark in crayon, marker, and popsicle juice...one of her favorite artistic mediums.

Before you worry about our finances, all these purchases are being funded by our tax-refund vacation fund...which was quite sizable considering we've never taken a vacation. So even after buying this stuff, we should still have enough to take our first honeymoon....or pay for Ruby's....whichever comes first.

Well, so much for apples and doctors....

This has been quite a week. Since Ruby started day care, she's had a runny nose almost continuously and a little bit of a cough. We didn't think much of it and just chalked it up to her getting back around other kids. Then on Saturday while we had people over for pizza, cake, and ice cream to celebrate her birthday, we cleaned some eye-goop from Ruby's eyes thinking we had missed it from when she woke up. Later that day, Melody and I were talking and realized that between the two of us we had cleaned her eyes 5 times. Then Sunday she woke up with a major runny nose, a fever, and her eyes caked shut with a pretty clear case of pink-eye, a diagnosis confirmed by the doctor on Monday, along with a sinus infection that was likely the root cause of all her symptoms.

Through the week we gave Ruby a prescription oral antibiotic but it didn't seem to have any effect. So we scheduled another appointment for Thursday. This time the doctor ordered chest X-rays after listening to her chest and confirmed a case a pneumonia, along with a double ear infection to go along with the pink-eye and sinus infections she already had. She got a shot of strong antibiotics and a stronger prescription. As of today (Friday) she seems to be doing better, but is still running a slight fever and going through Kleenex like there's a prize at the bottom of the box. Hopefully, she'll get cleared up this weekend so we can get back to "normal" next week. In the meantime, I was sick along with Ruby early in the week, and Melody is sick now. On the bright side, we ought to be immune to pretty much everything when we get through this.

If the stores can start selling Christmas stuff three months early, then I ought to be able to leave up a Christmas post three months after.

Really, I've been waiting until I actually had some news to share before I posted and we finally have some, though it's a bad news/good news kind of deal. The bad news is that Ruby and Daddy won't be able to spend their days togehter anymore since Ruby is going back to daycare full time. But the good news is that's because Daddy is finally going back to work. It's been a long 15 months of looking and going through long stretches where nothing happens, broken occasionally by opportunites that got our hopes up only to be let down - once even going so far as being hired, filling out all the paperwork, and paying for a week of daycare only to be told two days after I was supposed to have started that the project was cancelled and I didn't have a job after all. This time I waited until I acutally got to walk in the door and start the job before telling people about it. Once bitten, twice shy....

Since Ruby had always seemed to enjoy daycare, we hoped that she would be fine going back. Unfortunately, she got upset the first day when I dropped her off, and was looking sad when Melody picked her up. Then the second day, she really didn't want me to leave when I dropped her off. When I picked her up, she was happy to leave but seemed a little more like she had fun that day. She told me that she went outside and played with dinosaurs, and didn't cry when I asked her if she wanted to go back tomorrow. Maybe she'll get used to it soon and start looking forward to playing with the other kids. As hard as it is on her, I'm sure it's harder on Melody and me.

In other news, we had a fun family weekend at a hotel waaaaay up in Manohmen, MN. Find Fargo, ND on a map, then go northeast from there about 50 miles. Why were we way up there, you ask? For a poker tournament of course. Last summer and fall, I played in a weekly poker game sponsered by the Minnesota Poker League. It's free to play, and you accumulate points over an eight week session with the top point-getters getting an entry in the state tournament. The winners of that get a trip to Las Vegas and play in a national tournament to get an entry into a World Series of Poker event, like the ones they show on television. As it turns out, we won't have to worry about any of that since I didn't finish high enough to qualify. But it was still a good excuse to get away for a family weekend. We got a jacuzzi suite, Ruby spent lots of time in the pool (and in the big tub in our room), and we just had a good time relaxing and hanging out together. Still, if I happen to get to the state tourney again, I hope it's a little closer next time...

Ruby's birthday is coming up soon. She'll be 2-years old! Hard to believe. We don't have any major plans, but Melody's family is coming up from Iowa for pizza, cake, and ice cream. Ruby probably won't even notice that we're using the same decorations as last year since we planned carefully and made sure not to get any hats or signs that had a specific age on them. Good Move!

Happy Holidays to everyone! We've been having a nice morning of opening presents and sitting around in our pajamas while watching the snow fall and the wind blow outside. Right away this morning Ruby ran to the tree and exclaimed "Presents!", so we think she's catching on to the idea. Ruby has been playing with all her new toys and trying to sneak a bite of chocolate whenever she can. Melody and I are relaxing, snacking on stocking treats and listening to Christmas music. So it seemed like a good time to get caught up on the webpage.

We traveled to Michigan for Thanksgiving. We spent a couple days with some friends of mine who just moved back from New Jersey. We got to meet their daughter, Morgan, for the first time and she and Ruby had a great time playing together. After that, we finished the drive up to Flint and stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Blake. We got in visits with Ruby's great-grandparents and Papa Ron and Nana Micki, but time always seems to fly while we're there.

When we got back it was time to haul out all the Christmas decorations and set up the tree. Then it seemed like all our time was spent squeezing in shopping trips whenever we could. Our neighbors asked me to help them finish part of their lower level so they would have the space available before their new baby arrives, so I spent most of last week at their house. But we managed to get everything done in time and Melody took a couple days off work so we've been able to slow down and enjoy a nice long family weekend together.

- 2009
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- 2007