First Easter...no pictures.

Apparently we were too busy eating to take any pictures of Charlotte enjoying her first Easter. We spent Saturday night with Kaye's family and Sunday at my cousin Sue's home in Lomira. Charlotte slept the whole way down. Let's hope she keeps that habit up for future travels. Sue put on a HUGE spread-a Big thank you to her and everyone who helped her. I ate entirely too much.

My uncle Gerry commented that Charlotte seemed to be a fairly easygoing and quiet child. I thanked him for jinxing us. Like clockwork, about an hour later Charlotte entered into a screaming fit rivaling only those she had the first night she was home when she wasn't getting enough to eat. We're assuming [read: hoping] it was gas. After about an hour [may have been more like 1/2 hour...but seemed like an eternity], Kaye got her settled down and sleeping. So, we said our good-byes and ran out the door while she was in a good mood. Thankfully, she slept the whole way home.

Lastly, I'd be remissed if I didn't send a "shout-out" [yea, that's right, I said "shout-out"] to my cousin Marnie who got engaged last week. Congratulations!

That's the lucky girl in the middle.

FAQ #4 and Back to work...

I returned to work today after spending 2 weeks at home with Charlotte. How does that make me feel? I believe the video below sums up my thoughts on how it feels [don't try this at home]:

It was nice to be able to spend that time with her. Other than dropping the television remote on her head once, I think she came out none the worse for wear. It only really grazed her, but I felt pretty bad. She's sleeping through the night now [knock on wood]. She's even managing to do it in her crib...as opposed to in her car seat, which was the case for the first couple months.

Kaye's last day at Associated Bank was yesterday. She'll be starting her new job at Marine Credit Union on Monday. We're still waiting on day care. In the mean time, our friend Sandy has agreed to watch her.

FAQ #4: Boy, I'll bet your life has changed, hasn't it?
Well Duh!! However, not as much as people seem to think. Granted, she's been pretty low maintenance as far as babies go [knock on wood, again] and I know things will get more hectic as she becomes more mobile. We weren't exactly living the "rock and roll" life style before she was born. Now it's just about logistics and equipment. Any outing is planned around naps and feedings...and any trip, no matter how small, involves lengthy discussions and negotiations on what equipment will be transported and utilized. When I really think about it, we were already planning around my naps and feedings, so that's nothing new. So, in the end, it's really only about the equipment.

Charlotte was ready for today's game...

...unfortunately, the Badgers weren't.

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We had some pictures taken today. In addition to those in the link above, you should be able to view more here at the Sears album.

My turn to watch Judge Judy

First things first...I finally cut some video from our trip to Rockford last weekend to see Charlotte's great grandmother. You can check it out below. You'll notice that Charlotte's getting a little...um...festively plump. At this rate, Kaye and I may end up on Maury Povich.

On Tuesday, I had my first day of family leave. I'll be hanging with Charlotte until March 27th. So far it's been great. However, I've learned that there are people who had very little confidence in me to make it through one day, let alone 2 weeks. I've become fairly accustomed to low expectations. So, this is nothing new.

Kaye starts a new job with Marine Credit Union on April 2nd. More on that at a later date.

First Trip to Rockford

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Charlotte made her first trip down to Grandma Erickson's this weekend. We had a little brunch [ok, I had a lot] and showed Charlotte off to everyone. We also spent a little time with Charlotte's great great aunt Helga.

I took some video. Depending on how it turned out, I may post it later.

Charlotte's Baptism

Charlotte was baptized this weekend at the church Kaye and I will be joining in the next couple weeks.. No screaming. No fussing. Just pretty much sat there and took the whole thing in. After she's baptized, the minister walks her down down the aisle and introduces her to the congregation. At the end of the service, she takes the baby out with her and greets everyone as they leave church. As you can see from the video, I'm confused...as usual.



Kaye's brother Mark, my sister Chris, and brother-in-law Dale, were her sponsors. Grandma Michael was also here for the weekend. Kaye's family and my family all got together for brunch after the service on Sunday. All in all, good weekend. Charlotte was exhausted on Sunday. She slept from about 4:00 PM on Sunday until 6:30 AM Monday morning [except for a few feedings and a burst of energy for about an hour Sunday before bed]. Check out the pics from this weekend below.

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Maybe it's time to move...

La Crosse police found about 55,000 rounds of ammunition, weapons, explosives and drugs inside the South Side house of a man arrested Friday night on felony weapon charges...

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This guy lives, or hopefully "lived", less than 4 blocks away from us. It's nice to know you've got that kind of knockdown power in the neighborhood.

Update: Here's the charges.

No new boat for Charlotte

This weekend we made our first trip to Waupaca with Charlotte. It went pretty well. We went to a boat show in Green Bay. Charlotte enjoyed the $525,000 Yacht from Cruisers. However, even with the 4.9% financing, it fell a little out of Mommy and Daddy's price range. Especially considering it was for 24 mos. Interestingly, we could have financed a $55,000 pontoon boat for 180 months. How many times do you suppose the boat would be in the shop during those 180 months...not to mention the other 9 months of the year that we wouldn't be using it.

Click for more pics

Charlotte and Grandma had a great time. Charlotte made the transition over to formula this weekend so Mommy and Daddy were anxiously awaiting the "outcome"...if you know what I mean. She seems to have come around fine although we did go a full day without any "outcome" so there were some tense diaper changes. Hey! We're new parents! Cut us some slack!

Otherwise not much new. Kaye has 3 more weeks of FMLA remaining, then I'll be taking 2 or 3 weeks off to hang out with Charlotte. After that, it's off to school for Charlotte. I figure about a year or so after that, she can get a job and start earning her keep.

Not a lot going on...

Sorry it's been a while since the last posting. Not a lot is happening. Charlotte's growing. She's starting to smile more-which makes dad a puddle of mush. There are things that I've discovered I enjoy that I didn't see coming. Obviously the smiling part is pretty cool. Parents talk a lot about how they like watching their kids sleep. However, watching her wake up from a nap is one of the coolest parts of my day. The stretching, the faces, the noises are hilarious.

We're paying a little visit to Grandma Michael this weekend. It's Charlotte's first overnight trip. Should be interesting. A good 2 1/2 hour nap in the car en route to Waupaca should completely mess up what little sleep schedule she has. There's also a plan to go to Green Bay so Kaye can visit some friends and to spend time with Auntie Chris and Uncle Dale at the Boat Show. If the trip to Waupaca doesn't mess things up completely, the trip to Green Bay should push Charlotte right into an all night, no sleep, spiral.

In the next couple weeks I'll try to get more pics up. Until then, take my word for it. She's the cutest baby ever.

It's too bad I didn't have a jump shot...

Grandma Michael was here this past weekend. She hasn't been able to get over to see Charlotte since she was born, so it was a long time coming. I have some pics and video I'll try to put up later.

Yesterday I was treated to a very nice birthday present: a clean bill of health for Charlotte. She's in the 75th percentile for her weight and head size [wait for it...] and 90th in weight. Her shots were traumatic, there were lots of tears...and Charlotte cried too.

So, back to this head size thing. One of my co-workers informed me that they were told how tall their child would be based on the size of the child's head. That got me thinking. If head size is an indicator of height, shouldn't I be around 9 feet tall? If I only had a jump shot.

Who am I kidding? I didn't even have a layup.

Who are Colin Hay and Willy Porter, Alex.

I've received a few questions about the music in the background of the video posted after Charlotte was born. The first song is Colin Hay's, "Hold on to My Hand". Colin was the singer in Men at Work and is great solo artist.

The second song is, Willy Porter's "Water Color Sunrise". Again, great singer/songwriter and amazing guitar player. This was the song Kaye and I danced to at our wedding, not realizing that it was over 5 minutes long. I realize the title of this Blog implies we are, but neither of us are so self-indulgent that we feel people need to watch us dance for 5 minutes.

Picture Machine?

While Charlotte was in the hospital after her birth, they weren't able to take her newborn picture, because the "Picture Machine" wasn't working. I wanted to ask if that was medical speak for "camera", but I thought the staff had heard enough of my sense of humor.

So, about 2 weeks ago, she was finally able to go in and get her picture taken. They ended up giving us a free print package because we had to wait so long. Actually, I didn't even realize they sold you those pictures...but I suppose it makes sense.

The pic is also on the Gunderson Lutheran web site.

Charlotte get's a bath...finally!!

Ok, she has been bathed, but this was her first fully submerged bath. I don't think she liked it so much.



Poor kid. We just had to put up with our parents showing our naked baby photos/videos to our friends and family. Charlotte's are now on the web.

FAQ #3: Re-revisited and a few pics

The sleep thing is getting better. Charlotte wakes up once a night and even managed to sleep through one night. We've got sleep experts from Princeton working on finding out what we did right that night.

We did a little clothes shopping the other day and Charlotte decided she'd like to dress more like Dan Maglior, inventor of the "long sleeve under the short sleeve" look. We soon hope to incorporate the "North Face" Vest while we anxiously await the Danny Mag summer collection.

I wanna be Danny Mag

If you look closely at one of the pictures, she's giving the Corna or "Rock-On" sign. She already rocks!! It's only a matter of time before she's begging for her Judas Priest onesie.

P.S. For anyone who doesn't know Dan [or Judas Priest], I apologize for the obscure reference.

FAQ #3: Getting any sleep?

I'm doing fairly well in that regard. Kaye? Not so much, depending on the night. Charlotte is up every 2-3 hours for varying amounts of time to eat. She isn't a big fan of her crib yet. So, for now, she's spending her nights in a baby papasan chair . We're still pretty early in the game on this sleep thing, so we're not to worried about it yet. Easy for me to say, huh? Given my lack of the appropriate feeding "tools", there's not a lot I can do when she's hungry at 3 AM. We're working on making some "food" available for me to feed her, but we haven't reached our full "production capacity" yet...so it's a little hard. I'm pretty honest about my uselessness when it comes to late night feeding and Kaye taking the brunt of the lack of sleep. When I answer this question, people's response is funny. It's either an amused understanding or mild disgust. Then again, that's people's response to a lot of things I say.

Otherwise things are going well. Charlotte had her first visit to the doctor last week. Everything checked out. She had her first New Years Eve party last weekend. That she slept through. How she can manage to sleep through a group of middle aged men playing "Guitar Hero 2" but can't manage to give her mother more than a few hours of sleep at a time at home, I'll never know. Then again, it was preceded by a short trip in the car...which is like baby Ambien to Charlotte.

I returned to work yesterday after almost 2 1/2 weeks off with Kaye and Charlotte. Returning to work was not easy. Obviously, I'd rather be home with my 2 week old child. But just the thought of returning to work was tough. I grew up in a family of teachers. People [not me] complain that teachers make too much money considering they "get the summers off". However, now I'm convinced that they have to pay them that much just to come back after a summer off. I can't imagine having all that time off and then trying to convince myself that returning to work is a good thing.

Lastly, Charlotte and I discussed the prospect of Brett Favre's retirement and we both agree he should stick around for one more year, at least.