Swimming Lessons

Tonight we signed Graeme up for swimming lessons through Burnsville/Eagan/Savage Community Education. It's a parent/child class that meets Saturday mornings starting on April 9th. I'm pretty excited, but knowing how Graeme's first pool experience and bath times of late have gone, it could be interesting...

In other news, Graeme had another 'incident' today. He fell over on the play mat and hit his head on a toy. It required some hugs AND some ice this time. Tragic.

I can only imagine Graeme doing this in the not-so-distant future...in fact, this boy kind of looks like Graeme a bit, no? The video is a bit long, but the editing at the very end is worth the wait.

Graeme Pollock

Graeme does a lot of art projects at school. Up until know it had mostly been feet prints. Today he finger painted! It's a cloud. Sorry for the poor picture quality, it's a picture of a picture.

Busy, beauty and some birthdays

We had a busy weekend! Friday night we met up with Paul and Kendra for dinner and a movie. Graeme served as entertainment for a good portion of the evening. After he went to bed, we dined on delicious take out and watched Hot Tub Time Machine - which we highly recommend!

Meanwhile, Toni and Kim were on their way to our house for the following events. Uncle Chris watched Graeme while the girls attended a Women's Expo at Aveda's HQ in Blaine. There were several vendors hawking their wears as well as massage, facial and hair styling stations. Here I am post-facial. How do I look?

After hitting up the styling station we collected our bag of free Aveda products and headed out. We spent the rest of the afternoon at Chris and Meg's. Matt's family has a lot of March birthdays. Matt, Chris and their Uncle Steve all celebrated between the 18th and and the 24th. We decided to have a joint dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Our party was so big (13 people!) that they split us up between two tables. We had a chance to catch up with Liz and Patrick, who met Graeme for the first time that night. I think they got along fine!

Graeme and Patrick, fast friends

Graeme and Liz

 Birthday boy #1 (and Brynn!)

Birthday boys 2 & 3 (and Grace!)

Today we were lazy. It's the first Sunday in many weeks that Matt hasn't worked. It was nice. Graeme and Matt spent some quality time together and like most days, Graeme worked on his modeling portfolio.

 Oh yeah, he also practiced holding his own bottle today!

An incident

Every day Graeme comes home with a report card of sorts. It details his daily activities, likes and dislikes, when he sleeps, eats, poops, etc. Today was no exception but, in addition to the report was another sheet of paper. An incident report to be exact. Now at 6 months old what trouble could Graeme have possibly gotten into? I'd heard rumor that he'd been swapping socks on the play mat, but no harm no foul, right?! Turns out Graeme was only harming himself...he's got a sizable scratch on his neck from a freak 'trying to take his own bib off' accident. Turns out Velcro is tough on baby skin. Check out the 'action taken' section. I wish we could solve all the world's problems that way.

Wishing a very Happy Birthday to Unclie Chris!
We got you a balloon.

And just like that, winter was back. Our weather ran the gamut of thunderstorms to sleet to snow yesterday. We faired much better in the southern 'burbs of Minneapolis than they did in the northern part of the state. Duluth was under a blizzard warning. The weather people are already talking severe flooding for our area, this additional water isn't helping.

Today is matt's 30th birthday! We're keeping it low-key with dinner and dessert tonight.

We had bacon cheeseburgers & chocolate brownie cakes with peanut butter frosting for dessert. They were delicious. Graeme helped put the brownies together...I really hope he enjoys cooking and baking someday.



Into the oven!


Tada!

A. Fo' Drizzle

Q. Why does Snoop Dogg always carry an umbrella?

Get it? Love that joke!



This was the view through the windshield from Rockford to Minneapolis yesterday. Spring has sprung. This was no measure for the rest of the weekend though. We enjoyed sun and fun for a good portion.

The ladies (and babies) in Matt's mom's family gathered in Rockford, Illinois to welcome baby Josie and Shelley with a shower and reunion. Graeme was severely out numbered as he was the only boy allowed. He didn't seem to mind.

He dressed the part of ladies man. We didn't have the heart to tell him the ladies were all his relatives...



He tried to get fresh with Tellulah



...got a a new hat



...posed nicely with the whole crew



...was awake long enough to snap a picture with Great Aunt Mary, finally



...and then crashed




On Sunday we met up with my HS friend Brenda for breakfast. She is having a baby in September! We can't wait to meet him or her. We also made a stop at uncle Ryan and Aunt Tommi's house. I forgot my camera but will post pictures when Tommi gets them to us.

March madness

Happy St. Patty's Day from our sleepy little leprechaun.



This is Graeme sleeping off his six month checkup. Dr. Oseid gave him a clean bill of health and said he was a very good boy. Here are his current stats:

Weight: 18lbs. 10.5oz. (75%)
Height: 26in (25-50%)
Head: 17.5in (50-75%)

Along with the checkup came 5 vaccinations/boosters. Graeme did not enjoy them. He did however, have a great time with the paper on the table before the nurse came in.








Here is a quick video of what happened next....

For those of you wondering what he needs for Christmas this year, some large sheets of tissue ought to do it!

This is Mr. Sims sleeping off his spa day. Doesn't he look dapper in his kerchief?




I don't want to jinx it, but for the time being our family is ear infection free!

While Matt and Mr. Sims hang out and watch basketball this weekend, Graeme and I will be on the road to Rockford, Illinois via DeForest to welcome the newest family member Josie with a shower and baby meet and greet. We'll be sure to document along the way!

Speaking of basketball, it's March Madness time! Every game is on tv, that's four at any given moment and it's totally blowing my mind. Hard to keep up! In addition, I set up a bracket challenge with some coworkers and invited Matt to play. After most of the first round I am in the lead and Matt is last! Huzzah!

6 months!

Our little man is 6 months old today...can you believe it? We can't. He is pretty excited to have met this milestone:

Graeme's ever-expanding palette has him enjoying oatmeal, peas, green beans, prunes and applesauce. He eats great, sleeps great at night and is generally a really happy baby. He is really good at sitting up on his own and rolls over his left side from back to front and back again. He has yet to figure out how to use this to his advantage (yay!). His favorite toys right now are his crinkle books and anything he can bang on that makes noise. We have a checkup scheduled for next week Thursday so will have the official measurements then.

Shop 'til you drop

To cure our case of cabin fever, Graeme suggested we meet Kristen and Maddie at the mall. Not one to deny him an opportunity to see his friends off to Southdale we headed.

We walked and talked and shopped and stopped for lunch where Graeme got to sit in a highchair for the first time! He was pretty proud.






He's sitting up really good now, both in chairs and on his own. we'll probably be switching to his forward facing stroller soon. He'll love it!
Graeme ordered for us...






And paid the bill...



then the kids played a bit before we headed out.

Like brother, like brother

Not to be outdone by his younger brother, Mr. Sims has been diagnosed with an ear infection of the yeast variety. An unfortunate side affect of damp, pre-spring days. We will be flushing and medicating 2x daily for the next 7-10.

California Love

Back in early December the Tredinnicks traveled to Palm Desert, California for a week-long vacation. The guys spent a good portion of the trip golfing and the girls, shopping, sunning and swimming. To the left is a collage of some of the highlights.

Clockwise from top left: Graeme being swallowed up by his blanket and luggage for six adults and three small children (2) Graeme slept most of the way there and back (3) Our favorite family photo to date! (4) The gang at the Living Desert (5) Graeme in his first pair of swim trunks (6) An empty pool area thanks to some cooler temps (7) Graeme in his designer shades (8) Giraffes at the Living Desert (9) A golf hole (10) Christmas in California

Back (b)log

Seems we forgot that we had a blog...we're back with a new look and some new posts. Do I sounds like a broken record? Hello? Is anyone out there?

Here is quick recap of what we have been up to:
• Both sets of Grandparents were in town to spoil Graeme over President's day weekend and they succeeded. Pictures will be included in a subsequent post.
• We had some 40˚ days...then we got more snow...then it melted...now we are bracing for more snow this week. Is it summer yet?
• Graeme battled his third double ear infection in as many months. Does he have tubes yet? No, but it's a line item at his next appointment. Which reminds me I need to schedule that...
• Graeme has mastered the arts of sitting up (aided), eating off a spoon (he even helps!) and rolling from back to front and back again. He's a busy boy!
• Matt logged 80+ hours last week. Is it April 18th yet?

Also, some things we are looking forward to this month:
• Graeme's one-half birthday
• Our trip to Rockford on the 19th for Shelley and Josie's shower
• Matt's Birthday

Maybe after DST this weekend the extra hour of day-light will motivate me to be active further into the evening instead of coming home and curling up on the couch!  Fingers crossed.