2011 was pretty good to us

What. A. Year.

LOTS of babies born. Lots of changes. So many good memories. Here's a few of my favorites:

I kicked off the year with trying to be as busy as possible while five months pregnant by taking on an editorial internship at Minnesota Monthly while working full-time at American Girl. I have no photos of this time in my life. It was just really busy.

In February, Joe and I (along with most of his siblings and their significant others) went to Las Vegas for several days. We strolled the strip, saw Hoover Dam, and also saw the Blue Man Group perform.

In March and April, I had two beautiful baby showers.

On April 29th, I called in sick to work, not just to watch the royal wedding, but to convince myself that I wasn't going into labor, even though I was having contractions. On April 30th at 2:35 a.m. I heard "It's a girl!" And my life promptly changed forever. For the better.

May, June and July were three glorious months of maternity leave. It meant figuring out what a family of three is and adjusting to life as parents. I was also able to make a couple trips to Chicago to introduce Cece to the rest of my family. The three of us also spent a week up at Mantrap Lake with the extended Gaetz family for  a week of summer relaxation. Lastly, it was three months of house hunting as we wanted to move out of our apartment ASAP and into a house.

In July we finally bought that house (or duplex if you want to be technical). So began our life as homeowners and landlords. I also returned to work during this time.

In August, I turned 25 and my parents came up to Minneapolis to celebrate with me.

The end of September also marked the end of my time at American Girl. It was three incredibly fun years. But I very much could not wait to start my stay-at-home mom career.

In October, we attended a beautiful wedding for our friends Kristina and Tony. And what's a wedding without a LOT of U of M hockey cheerleaders of past and present?

Will and Sarah came to visit us later in October to initiate us into the stay-at-home mom club. And to remind me that I miss them like crazy all the time.

The rest of the year went as expected. Cece grew up, hit her milestones, and in the process became REALLY attached to me. It was a whirlwind of her sitting up on her own, crawling, pulling herself up to standing, and just being stinkin' adorable.

 The holidays had never felt so special to me as they did this year. We had a blast witnessing Cece's first Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Not to mention getting through another year of marriage. We have a lot to be thankful for and a lot to look forward to in 2012!

What are you doing New Year's Eve?

This video is everywhere on the internet right now, but these two are so adorable that I couldn't resist. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was kind of my favorite in Inception. And 500 Days of Summer. And maybe even Third Rock From the Sun. And we know how I feel about Zooey Deschanel and her tiara-wearing. Happy New Year!

The last little bits of the year

 With all of the Christmas gatherings and travels being done, I've chosen to lay low and be cozy this last week of 2011. Meaning, I've really only left the house to go to Target and to the gym and have had people come over to me instead. (Lay low is my euphanism for being lazy.) Azure and I had a productive Target run on Tuesday and followed it with making a pan of cheesy potatoes to go with some leftover ham. She then accompanied me to the gym and it was great to have a gym buddy.

 On Wednesday Cece and I had TWO play dates. One with Trinity and Lianna in the morning. Lianna and I haven't seen each other since we were both barely pregnant so it was lovely to get the girls together, especially with them so close in age. In the evening, Joe's cousin Bill and his wife Heather came over with their little lady (Ellie, who is I believe 16 months old). We wined and dined and it was nice to socialize Cece (as well as ourselves).

Then, today, after Joe and I went to the gym, we had Chinese food for dinner, he made fun of my Zumba moves, and we watched Friends with Benefits after C Monster went to sleep. Sigh. Justin Timberlake can still do no wrong in my book. Know what? I'll consider that a date for us old fuddy duddys.

Holidays Part II: Christmas Eve in St. Cloud

We spent Christmas Eve at Joe's parents' house with all of his siblings and nieces and nephews. As seen above, Cece had a great time playing with her cousins, but didn't care so much for posing for photos. I found it to be a lovely get-together. Many gifts, a variety of cookies and holiday treats, and pretty party dresses. And the men paint-balled in the yard, so they were happy. 


I was rather oblivious to the party's Mexican theme. I just thought the tacos and Coronas were a great meal alternative to turkey. Turns out we are going on ANOTHER group vacation in 2013. Exact destination is to be decided, but I CAN'T WAIT! Did I marry into the right family or what?  We spent the night in St. Cloud and returned to our home early afternoon where we opened the last of the gifts.


Cece received lots of fun toys and adorable clothes. I got a great new pair of winter boots and Lindt truffles from Joe. And even though Joe can be kind of grinchy,  he even watched Elf with me when we got home on Christmas day. I really couldn't ask for more.

Ooh! Lastly, that fantastic family photo is courtesy of Angela, her patience, and her fancy camera.

Holidays 2011 Part I: Surprise Roadtrip to Chicago

I am TERRIBLE at surprises. However, the week before Christmas, I managed to take a semi-secret roadtrip with Cece to Chicago (with a layover in Madison) without telling my parents until I arrived.  All of our events were low-key and involved a good amount of lady and baby time, but I have been bursting with so much Christmas cheer this season that I felt the week was perfect.

 It was great to see my parents and so fun to actually surprise them. Robbyn and I got to go skating together for the first time in about two years (accompanied by her boyfriend Jay, and our almost-sister, Rose). I ate a lot of Palermo's pizza and drank far too much Dunkin coffee. We mainly spent time at my parents' house, at Robbyn's new girly apartment, and Sarah's house with Will's many toys. It was fantastic to catch up once the babies had gone to sleep and we could watch girly movies and have Sangria (Ok, fine. It was Arbor Mist, but SO tasty).

 To top off our visit, Cece crawled for the very first time on our last day in Chicago. She crawled right for my Coach purse.  I say it every day, but I really can't believe how big she is getting! Our drive home was VERY scary and of everything to be thankful for this season, I'm just so very very grateful that Cece, Dave (our SUV) and I are all ok!

My "other" Christmas greeting

Happy Holidays to you and yours! Had I not done photo cards this year, this would have definitely been my greeting card of choice. Some of you may know that I am mildly obsessed with the products of Curly Girl Design. I have calendars, magnets, matted prints, and even an iPhone skin.  I often look for excuses to send these cards to people since they're so dang adorable. I even got a chance to attend one of Leigh's signings about a year ago and she's kind of dang adorable too. (I'll take anything off the Curly Girl website as a Christmas, birthday, or "just because gift." Just saying)

Anyways, besides doing free advertising this Christmas Eve, I really want do want to wish all of my five readers (and whoever else stumbles upon my itty bitty blog), a very Merry Christmas. I hope you are with the people you love, doing whatever it is you love, and celebrating what you believe.

Four years ago, this was the best day of my life.

On a Saturday night, Joe and I took a ride in one of these,

stopped and stood beneath these lights,

and I was given a little piece of jewelry.

Looking back there are two things I do not believe. I do not believe that after two and a-half years of dating that I did not see it coming whatsoever. It did cross my mind that maybe I should paint my nails that week, just in case I did receive some piece of symbolic jewelry, but I never acted on it. Secondly, I do not believe how perfect it was.

Downtown Chicago during Christmas time is my absolute favorite time and place. And this proposal occurred then with all of the bells and whistles. Joe whisked me to Michigan Avenue after my family's Christmas get-together at my Grandma's. I was worried about his navigation skills in the downtown area, but we ended up parking and running towards a horse drawn carriage. Apparently, we had a date.

In the carriage, there was a bouquet of roses. And champagne. And a cozy blanket. Oh, and the horses's name was Arthur. I thought the ride was a ridiculously well-thought out Christmas gift. The driver stopped in front of the Drake hotel where she "had to check something on the horse." So Joe walked me to the lighted gazebo in front of the hotel and I am fairly certain that there had not been a more perfect moment in my life before then. I remember him saying something romantic and then BAM, he was down on one knee with my dream ring, asking me to marry him. That moment literally took my breath away. Of course, I cried, said yes, and we went home to tell my parents. (My dad already knew, since Joe asked his permission to marry me about six months earlier.)

At this time, I did not possess a quality digital camera, or even a phone with a decent camera because we don't have any photos of the actual event. (My parents did take photos of me all in tears at home afterwards. Which are clearly adorable, but for some reason I can't find them.)

Since that day, there have been some extremely significant and amazing moments in my life, but this one will always be up there.  And I do hope someday that my little girl is lucky enough to find someone as wonderful as her father.

I can't get enough of ...

Two lovely musical finds this holiday season:

A Very She & Him Christmas is playing here. All the time. Well, except when Joe needs a break from my woman music and holiday cheer. And it only partially has to do with the fact that I have quite the girl crush on Zooey Deschanel. (Can we PLEASE go shopping together?). I'll be sad when January hits and I have to save it for next season.

And Sufjan Stevens - Songs for Christmas. All I have to say is that you won't be disappointed. If you have really sappy musical taste such as I. That's all for now. Less than a week until Christmas now!

What makes the season bright

It's recently become clear to me that these truly are the sweetest days of my life. Although I do try to make everyday as productive as possible with housework, errands, sometimes the gym, and keeping Cece happy and healthy, it's definitely not always like that. And that's a good thing. I realized that earlier this month. Joe left for work early and it was still dark out. Cece and I were just awake in the living room, snuggling in our PJs with the Christmas tree lights on and snow outside that we didn't have to venture out in. It occurred to me that life may not get too much more wonderful than this. 

The great thing about being a stay-at-home mama right now is the time I've really been able to take to enjoy the holidays and Cece. I can't remember the last time I've felt so relaxed in December. I got my Christmas cards sent out early (ish). I finished my shopping in two days and have even everything wrapped. We've been enjoying our tree since the last weekend in November. AND today, Azure and I made holiday cookies from scratch (including the icing!) with Christmas movies in the background. So much butter... that's all I have to say about that. I even had to run out to get MORE butter. It took hours and it was so worth it! I can't remember the last time I made actual homemade cookies. I really hope it's something that it's something I can make time to do with Cece every year.  Now, the only thing that would make this holiday absolutely perfect is a trip to Chicago. Just saying.

Such a Daddy's Girl

On the outside, she may appear to be a mama's girl. But boy, as soon as Dad gets home, it's kiiind of all about him. Which is adorable, since he is kind of all about her.

Cecelia's First Concert

This afternoon, I went on a rather brave outing with the C Monster. I had planned to go to a dear friend's Christmas concert and thought, why not bring the baby? She'll loooove the music. Maybe so much that she'll even take a snooze? So, Cece went to her first concert. In a church. To listen to a chamber choir and orchestra. How classy are we?And she did not nap, but she did  like it. In fact, I'm pretty she even tried to sing along. Even though we were sitting in the back, I got a little nervous about her making it through the second half. I called Joe just as he was finishing work and errands, and he picked her up during intermission. Although I was by myself for part II, it was a lovely, lovely concert and absolutely got me in the Christmas spirit (not that I wasn't already!)

Tee he he

I was on postsecret for the first time in awhile and felt that I could relate to this person's sentiment.

Don't care, I still love me a tall iced chai with skim. (I hate saying "non-fat." It feels pretentious.) Or any holiday drink for that matter.

Happy Wednesday!

First Week of December

Within the past week...

November turned to December.

I went on a lady date to see Breaking Dawn. (No vampire pregnancies for me, thanks.)

I utilized my gym membership and did a kickboxing class and two Zumba classes.

Cece went to her six-month doctor visit, even though she is now seven months old. She's still on the short/small side, but doing great. (Well, she could sleep a little more, and I wouldn't complain.)

I learned to make lemon meringue pie via Azure. Baking is difficult and scientific and I must learn more!

And lastly, Dad flew in for the weekend. Although it was for property managing purposes, we still got to spend some quality time together. Is there anything sweeter than seeing grandpa and granddaughter together? Or anything more lovely than snow you don't have to drive in? I don't think so.