Collin's First Hair Cut

At 16 months it was finally time for Collin to get a little trim. He definitely has his daddy's curls, so the back of his head is covered with tight little curls and the top is all wispy and bigger curls, but the sides haven't quite filled in yet, so its sort of this interesting mullet like head of hair.

Just recently his "bangs"- or the front of the wispy curls on the front of his little head were getting in his eyes, so it was time for a haircut. We knew that we wouldn't be able to cut it ourselves, so its off to Kids Hair we went. Collin did great, enjoyed sitting in the chair and admiring himself in the mirror. I was a little bit sad to see him get his first haircut because it means our little boy is not a baby anymore, but an ambitious little toddler.

Cheese Curds & Deep Fried Milky Ways

Every year we anticipate the state fair. I absolutely love the atmosphere, the fun and the food, even if I do pay for every little morsel I eat with unending gut rot for 24 hours after leaving. This year I also used the fair as my first opportunity to try out my brand new Nikon D90.
For awhile now we've been using a University camera, a Nikon D100, an I'd grown very accustomed to taking photos through a great lens, resulting in great, crisp photos. We'd been looking at cameras, trying to determine if it was worth it to buy one or just continue to use Drew's work camera, and finally decided, with all the traveling that we do that it would be better to have our own. Drew bought me this new, FANTASTIC camera for our anniversary/birthday and I was anxious to try it out. I'm still learning how to use it and all of the coll things it can do, but so far its one of my most favorite gifts EVER.


We always start the fair with Cheese Curds from the mouse house. We arrived at 10 am on an absolutely stunning Saturday (which turned out to be the day with the highest fair attendance EVER, in the history of the fair), but that didn't hinder our cheese-curdin', off to the food building we went. This year Collin was able to try one, and immediately he started signing "more!", "more!", which was pretty funny, but confirmed that he's part of our family. A delicious breakfast to start our journey.

After cheese curds we wanted to head to the barns before Collin's nap time to get a glimpse of all the animal babies. The Miracle of Life barn is one of my favorite parts of the barn, filled with tons of furry little baby animals. We walked in to find a litter of piglets, and a staff holding one little piglet to pet. After the pigs we wandered over to the baby lambs, the chicks, the baby cows and the baby goat. Collin especially like the baby cow because they were about the same height and he could stand next to the gate and pet the calf.
After the barn we decide to take in a few rides and headed over to the giant slide. On our way we found the deep fried candy bar stand, where I tried my first deep fried milky way and it was DELICIOUS. Collin had a few licks of powdered sugar and was all smiles after we shared our second bit of state fair yummies.
Collin was particularly happy to people watch from his stroller, so while Drew waited in line to go down the slide Collin flirted with all the ladies. After a minute or two of waiting to slide down. After the giant slide we went over to the carousel, where he stubbornly would not ride the horses. Even with me by his side Collin had no interest in sitting on a moving horse, instead we spent the ride standing next to the horse watching it go up and down. So around and around we went, which, immediately after a deep fried milky way made me just a little bit dizzy with a side of gut rot. But, I took it all in stride, there were many more things to eat and only one day to capture it all!


Once we were off the carousel we knew that Collin was getting sleepy and tried t lay him down in his stroller to take a nap while Drew and I explored the boring side of the fair that Collin wouldn't enjoy as much (the art building, the 4H building, the baked goods building, etc.) When we tell other people who aren't from Minnesota about the state fair they don't seem to get the enormity of the "Great Minnesota Get Together", they think its comparable to their local state fair, which in most cases, its anything but. The state fair is absolutely ENORMOUS. You could spend a whole week here and never see the same thing twice. Its also anything but mobile, most of the buildings, events and features here are in permanent building: Sweet Martha's cookie's is not a roadside stand, its a permanent location, as it should be :) If we could only take all of our friends and family to the state fair so they could experience a fair they way you should, Minnesota style.

Once Collin fell asleep and we had time to wander through the barns we were on a mission to get two things: new Star peelers (for free! We just traded in our original ones) and to head to the pet barn to get a new Sticky Wizard roller that picks up an unending supply of Samson hair. Our last Sticky Wizard died unexpectedly when we broke the bracket that held the actual sticky on the handle. Once we acquired our goods we found ourselves looking for more food.
We ended up stopping at one of the "exotic" food buildings, where we tried Porcupine Meatballs with a mushroom marsala gravy and red potatoes, which was yummy. As we were heading to get our food Collin woke up from his nap, fully rested and hungry for lunch, so he enjoyed some of the meatballs, mashed potatoes and the lunch I packed for him too.

After filling up we took Collin over to the Little Hands Farm, which he loved. Collin absolutely loves tractors, so this little miniature farm where he fed the chickens, cows, and sheep (they were all "pretend" animals), rode a little tractor and got to sit on the real thing, was better than sliced bread. He had a ball playing with all the farm gear, sitting on the tractor, and afterward trying some ice cream. Once we finished at the little hands farm we went over to the real tractors on display, the very old, the very new and the John Deere stand where Collin picked up a new tractor to take home and we started looking for an after lunch treat.
To end our day we made our annual closing stop at Sweet Martha's Cookies to get a bucket of chocolate chip cookies. We waited 45 minutes for a bucket of delicious cookies and even, in the theme of state fair gluttony let Collin try his first cookie. It was a stellar way to end the day, as all three of us had filled ourselves to the gills with new and delicious treats and enjoyed a fabulous day at the fair.

Mother's Intuition

So, as I mentioned in my last post, I headed out of San Francisco on Monday the 30th on the red eye flight arriving in Minnesota at 6:00 am in the morning. Tired, exhausted, a little bit nauseous; Drew picked me up, we headed out to breakfast and then traveled over to the OBGYN office to find out if the baby is a boy or a girl.

As I've mentioned before I've had a feeling about this little baby for awhile. Even though things have been different this pregnancy I've always felt like it was another boy. I don't know how describe how I thought this, but intuitively my body seemed to say "boy" "boy" "boy".

When we got to the OBGYN I just wanted to take a nap. I was so tired, but also excited at the same time, making me sort of slap-happy. I am sure I was a sight for sore eyes (who didn't smell all that great, having not brushed my teeth or taken a shower in over 24 hours). So, in we went, first visitors to the Level 2 ultrasound room where we positioned ourselves in front of a TV screen to see what this little baby was up to.

Now, part of me was so groggy that I had a hard time following what our technician was saying, but part of me also thought she was just as tired as I was, because she wasn't sharing much and zooming through all the checks. Luckily, we had a good sense of what we were looking at, so we were able to catch glimpses of little arms, little toes, tiny little hands and a little thumb appropriately placed in this baby's mouth.

As the technician walked through all of the checks, heart chambers, brain hemispheres, spinal cord, kidneys and stomach I felt my nervous concerns flitter away. This baby is healthy and active. This baby sucks it's thumb and waves. This baby does somersaults and is just as stubborn as Collin when requested to move, roll over or position itself in any particular way. As we were heading through the images I caught a very brief glimpse of what I thought were boy parts, but our technician quickly moved on. Apparently, when its your second child they don't spend so much time seeking out the sex for you. I kept waiting for her to go back and actually look to see if its was a boy or girl, but she just kept moving on to other body parts, functions or connections. At the end of the ultrasound I was prepared to hear "we couldn't tell what it is" since she hadn't made a big deal about any of it, but to my surprise she asked if we had an inclination about what it is. I told her my thoughts, that I was feeling as though this was a little boy.

And then, she agreed.

Yep. Its a boy.

I sort of did a little double take.Huh? Thats it. You're not even going to show me? I was so confused I asked again. She said, "its a boy" , so I responded with "are you sure?", to which she responded in a dull, unenthusiastic tone, "Yes."

End of conversation.

This was so weird to me, as last time, they made a huge deal of it, freezing the tell-tale frame, printing a picture, pasting text "It's a boy!" on the screen shot. But this time it was just a quite little verbal confirmation. No evidence. No picture. Nada.

So, I hope she was right. I still feel as though its a boy, so I don't really doubt her, but it would have been nice to see a bit of evidence to support her claims, being I am so very data-driven. But I guess I'll just have to wait until he's born to confirm my, and her suspicions :)

The technician probably thought we were disappointed to have another boy, based on the many times I asked her to clarify, but its actually quite to the contrary. We're very excited about raising two boys together, close in age, and with any luck close at heart. We hope these boys grow up like two peas in a pod, together as a team of mischievous marauders.

Seeing all of the working parts, the ten tiny fingers and ten tiny toes made me so much more aware of the tiny little guy who's growing inside me. Its hard to take the time to revel and enjoy this pregnancy as much as I was able to with Collin because our lives are so much more busy, yet this baby has been such a blessing already.

Early on I thought I was going to experience back pain during the 17th week, but it was a false alarm as I am still doing well with minimal back pain. This baby has also blessed me with the ability to stay awake all day long, which is more than I can say for what Collin did to me :) In general, this little guy is a pleasure to carry, allowing me to sleep comfortably, still carry Collin and enjoy all kinds of foods (save for the first trimester) that continue to be delicious! So cheers to baby boy number two, you are already making our lives so much better.

As usual, we hope to keep this baby's name a secret until the end, but the more we think about it the more it seems like this isn't really feasible, as at home we are teaching Collin his name and preparing the nursery with his name on the wall. I don't exactly have the energy to prevent every person who visits us between now and January from going in the spare bedroom, and if Collin blurts out the baby's name to family and friends there isn't much we can do about it, but, don't get too excited, because we aren't exactly giving it away. If you want to know the baby's name you'll have to work for it. Each letter as a puzzle. Stay tuned for new posts revealing his name.

So in anticipation of baby boy Hollman we're starting to move toward getting things ready, preparing a nursery and getting out all of the newborn clothes. Looking at the tiny little layette its so hard to believe Collin had ever fit in any of the pieces.

As I mentioned before, now that I'm growing outward we agreed to share our bump watch photos. I thought originally, with Collin, we posted the first picture at 17 weeks, but it turns out it was more like 22 weeks, so here I am, at 22 weeks now, with a baby bump, excitedly anticipating all that will come between now and January 20th, 2011.

A little less than a tasting...

So, after posting about our anniversary, I neglected to mention that I was the awful wife he flew out of Minneapolis the evening of our anniversary to head to San Francisco for girls weekend, wine tasting and touring of Napa Valley and Sonoma. Yes, its true. I'm just awful. And it was even after I learned that Drew had given me this for our anniversary/birthday (more on the camera later).

Off I flew, into the humid air to meet Liz, Karen, Lisa and Stephanie to enjoy a long weekend in San Francisco and the northern territories spotted with wine tasting. Soon after we all arrived to San Francisco we headed up to Napa Valley, which also happens to be where Lisa got engaged, and began the wine tasting. Well, they began wine tasting, I began designated driving.

First we had lunch at this beautiful estate called Laird Estates where we had private tasting of wine and a fantastic lunch looking over a beautiful vineyard. I attempted by first "taste and spit" and just felt awful about wasting so much wine, so after the first tasting I returned to water and passed my tasting on to the girls so they could have double the fun.

Then we wandered over to the Silverado Trail, a beautiful meandering drive that strolls pasts dozens of wineries, including one of the oldest in the area, Regusci Winery. We stopped here, upon recommendation and the girls enjoyed the wine while I loved all of the dogs running about. This place has 15 to 30 little furry guys cuddling up to all the patrons. The girls toasted the baby and started carefully tasting the many different varieties of wine, mostly reds, but all delicious (or so they told me).
Regusci was particularly beautiful because it overlooked a beautiful hilltop of vineyards and included a lunch terrace where I continued to soak up the sun. Liz, Lisa, Karen and Stephanie didn't buy any wine here, but we did get another recommendation to go to another local place from locals. This time we wandered down to a private reserve winery and wormed our way into a "by reservation only" location, without a reservation. All over Napa the views were particularly stunning. The sun was shining on us, a frequent breeze and rolling hills of luxurious grapes as far as the eye could see. I was nearly in Napa heaven. Even though I couldn't drink it was still fantastic to see all of the rolling landscapes in Napa Valley. At every stop I picked out a great sunny spot to enjoy the sunshine and think about nothing but where to take my next mini-nap. I was getting some well earned time to relax. With Collin chasing me around, this pregnancy has left me a bit tired with few free minutes to try to catch up on rest, and out here in the middle of Napa valley I was getting to do just that.
Tasting at the private reserve was quiet and simple. They were fairly new, with first wines harvested in 2006 and 2007 and had a very relaxing patio with a garden view. After relaxing here for awhile we traveled on to Signorello, where Lisa suggested we stop because she had been here before with Kyle. They tasted nearly all of their wines, and one of their specialties, called Padrone, which was highly anticipated and very much enjoyed. Really, though, Lisa wanted to bring us here for the amazing view. This vineyard has a infinity pool built into their patio overlooking their amazing vineyard. They are particularly picky about who gets to head out to see this view, but since Liz signed up for the wine club and Lisa spent a chunk of change they were obligated to let us near the water.
Turns out though, no one swims in this pool except for the owner. He likes to come out and take a few laps while everyone else looks on in disgust. It would be awful to work here and look at the beautiful pool all day and never get to even put in one toe. We did ask if anyone had every accidentally fell in and one lady said that her wedding ring just slipped off her finger into the pool and she had to dive in to get it.


After Signorello, to end the day we headed to Domaine Carneroswhere Lisa and Kyle got engaged. This is a champagne place, where we watched the sun set and the girls had a bit of bubbly. At this point they were getting a bit tipsy, so it was very entertaining for me to watch as we wound down. At this point I was quite a bit hungry too, so luckily, with champagne we ordered lots of cheese and I ate lots of cheese. Mmmmm, cheese. It was delicious.
Domaine Carneros is built in an incredible building, dramatically large and imposing, but beautiful at the same time. Ending the first day of our tasting and driving for a quiet and meandering ride to Sonoma Valley, stopping for dinner at Taylor's Refresher, ending in Healdsburg, where we booked a hotel to get some rest before another day of wine tasting.
Day two was all about more wine tasting, but this time in the more laid-back Sonoma. I loved Sonoma much more than Napa because of the back-woods nature of the area. We drove along many winding roads, through farms, next to little covered bridges and didn't feel as though we were in the midst of an area inundated by wine tasters, so apparent in Napa Valley. We visited a handful of wineries starting with Gary Ferrell, then traveling on to a little hole-in-the wall organic farm, followed by another wine tasting in caves along the same stretch. I spent most visits smelling and enjoying outside more than the wine, Liz, Lisa, Stephanie and Karen drank their weight in wine. For lunch we wandered over to a place where Liz was a wine club member, which meant that all those in favor of drinking, drank for free. The winery, Everett Ridge, was situated high above a field of pinor noir grapes, with rolling hills and shades of green going on forever. Since we had already been to 3 vineyards before lunch, I was getting sleepy, and after packing away a fantastic lunch from Oakville Market in Healdsburg, it was like Thanksgiving-- I was ready to nap, nap, nap. So, being in the carefree environment we were in, I did just that. However, my friends, being the lovely ladies they are, saw my sleeping at the table as an opportunity to seize, so while I dreamed away, they positioned me with the spit bucket, an empty wine glasses and a few Cheesy Poofs for flair and took a series of wonderful pictures (Dear baby, I did not consume any wine, these photos were entirely staged, and you in no way were a victim of alcoholism :).




Day three brought us to the end of our trip in Napa and Sonoma. We spent our morning and early afternoon poking around Healdsburg (where I picked up a tiny little hat for the newest addition) and enjoying our last few moments of delicious lunches, yummy treats and lots of great wine. We found some candy cigarettes at Powell's old time candy store and practiced smoking like only a 5 year old would, packed up our stuff and headed on our way. We started our journey back to San Francisco, made our way across the Golden Gate Bridge, traveled down Lombard Street in our little rental car that BARELY made it to the top and finally ended the evening with coffee (hot chocolate for me) and a stroll through the Mission near Liz's place.



On our final day together in San Francisco we caught the Trolley down to Fisherman's wharf and headed to Alcatraz. At this point my camera promptly died, so there are only a few photos of Alcatraz, but it was quite the experience. Before we knew it the trip was over, and I was headed back on the red-eye to Minnesota. I loved this long weekend because its not all that often get to see these girls, girls I've known since high school, some since kindergarten and before, and it always seems to be that no matter how much time has gone by we pick up right where we left off and fit perfectly into each others' lives. Next year we're hoping to spend our time at Outer Banks, North Carolina. But truth be told it doesn't matter where we are, as long as we get to spend our time together, catch up, smoke a few candy cigarettes, and enjoy a good bottle of wine (which hopefully, next year I'll be able to indulge in!).

Three years ago.

Three years ago, before we started this, we were something entirely different. We were just us. Alisha and Drew, Andrew and Alley, (depending on how you knew us), we were anticipating a future together, having no idea what was in store.



When I first met Drew I was convinced he wasn't the "one". Not because he demonstrated in any way that he wasn't, just because I was done dating. I had been on a handful of ridiculous dates and had temporarily pleaded dating insanity. So when we agreed to meet to take a walk around Lake Calhoun I was expecting a nice afternoon. Nothing more. This mind you, was after he had already stood me up by calling to cancel at the last minute, so he already had a strike against him.

That day was full of interesting conversation. Drew, originally, wasn't so sure about kids, and once our conversation got rolling I asked him, point blank, what the deal was. I was so jaded about the dating scene I didn't even want to continue to talk to someone who couldn't appreciate kids. So I told him that. I might have just walked right away from him and left him to continue to walk around Lake Calhoun as the one single guy among dozens of happy couples. But, it wasn't that he didn't want kids. As it turns out, he was afraid of them. He knew very little about them other than "they scream in restaurants" and "pick their noses" and have "tantrums in public". After a half hour or so of explaining how kids get that way and all of the happiness to be found in children, he smiled a "maybe it wouldn't been so rough" smile. I decided I liked his openness.

After our walk we wandered back toward his house, where he told me that he was happy that I made it evident that I wasn't interested in him because otherwise he would never show me is uber-messy apartment (complete with giant Red-Tail Boa Constrictor). So he invited me in to the apartment. Turns out he believed me when I said I had no interest.
It was messy, but it wasn't awful, and the conversation was at least engaging. Engaging so much that suddenly it was 1:00 am. We had just sat there talking for a ridiculous amount of time not without second thought.

Hmm.. there could be some promise here.

When I finally went home and stepped back in to Grad school life, I wasn't surprised to hear from him a day or so later. Turns out Drew wanted to go on a real date, and, no surprises here, so did I. So we dated, briefly, before quickly realizing that this was bigger than dating. We connected in lots of ways, but mostly we fit into each other's lives and ideals seamlessly. Drew was willing to sit for long standardized assessments (which is no easy task) while I practiced by school psych skills, and I was willing to hear all too much about cycling and grass.

Before long we weren't spending much time apart, and I at least knew that he was a big part of the rest of my life. And so, the rest of our story began, Drew bought a house, and we moved into it. We waited a bit to get engaged (on May 21st, which also happens to be Collin's birthday, serendipitously) because we didn't want folks to think we were a little bit crazy, and then, almost three years after meeting each other this happened:



























And then we enjoyed some time here





















With these crazy cats-














Before ending our night with a little of this























and a little of this.













I still think it was one of the very best days of my life. I still look back at it with complete and utter happiness. I still remember the fantastic feeling of beginning the rest of our lives together and I still live those feelings every day.

I love you, Drew, more than you'll likely ever know.
Happy third Anniversary.

Where did we leave off????

Oh my, what a summer.
Oh my, how will we survive the fall?

So, I'm trying to be back in the habit of blogging, but let me tell you, its no easy task. There seems to be pull from every direction these days. Since way back when, August 16th or so (isn't that the date of the last post), so much has happened, and I'll try, within a few posts to blog about it all. It will probably be back to back posts, two or so a day for a few days, and then another stall out.

I'm just sayin'.

So here's whats happened since mid August (meant to be spewed out in one enormous breath):
Drew and I had our third anniversary.
I went to California to see some friends in Sonoma and Napa Valley
We went to the state fair
We started a journey toward "slow food"
I grew, as in straight outward.
We learned the sex of the baby.
Collin quit "just walking" and started running EVERYWHERE.
Collin got a dozen or so more teeth (okay, not really a dozen, but it sure seems like it).
I grew some more.
Things go really crazy at work.
Things settled down.
Collin got his first haircut.
Collin started the fall semester at Little Gym, ECFE and story-hour.
I relaxed for about 10 minutes in there somewhere.
And then we landed at today.

Sheesh. See, I told you. We've been busy.
Now as I sit here I find myself anticipating all that will come with the Fall. Its going to be very busy. I miss the summer weather already, and its not even gone yet. I want to hang on for just a little bit longer to continue to play outside, go for walks, enjoy the sunshine, sit down for dinner in the daylight on our back porch, swing on the swings and harvest more from the garden.
I'd even be okay if Fall stayed for awhile, weather in the 60s, cooling off at night is divine. The problem is that in Minnesota its an ominous prelude to winter. Fall always seems to last about 2 weeks, which makes me dislike it. If fall could be like summer, and last a few months, I'd love it a whole lot more. So, mother nature, take note. People in Minnesota would be a whole lot happier if you didn't through so much winter at us.

So, on to our first "catch-up" post.