Four months and fake trees

I can't believe my baby is 4 months old!!! She's growing like a weed, more vertically than anything. She made the 96 percentile for height, again! She's getting more accustomed to the Bumbo, and still sits in her barn chair reluctantly, but she absolutely loves the Baby Bjorn carrier! The other day we were out in the 50 degree weather (sweltering for Midway) measuring our yard and house footprint for our great landscape remodel this summer. She wouldn't help hold the tape measure, but she gave her babbling input as needed. She loved it so much she fell asleep. Here's a list of her other great attributes:
she spits
she drools
she burps
she farts
she snores
she grunts
she laughs
and she still loves to be swaddled when sleeping. Monica said she looks like a burrito.
I'm trying to wrap up the inside of the house before I dive into landscaping season. There is this dark corner in our living room where I envisioned something tall and green, but it doesn't get enough light. A rubber plant might work, but I don't have 20 years to wait for it to get that tall. In desperation, I found a fake ficus tree at the DI, cleaned it up, and it doesn't look that bad! With a few real plants adjacent to it, nobody will ever know!

Challenges

I've skied off the peak of Mt. Crested Butte in Colorado

I've hiked through blistering heat through the depths of the Grand Canyon in the middle of July

I've climbed one of the hardest peaks in the Teton range where it was sunny, rained, snowed and sunny again within about 10 minutes

I've slid down a glacier with nothing but an ice axe to stop me from falling off the edge

My body has withstood extreme harsh conditions and severe heavy loads

But when it comes to being coordinated enough to run with a baby jogger down the back roads of Midway...

I'M WAY OUT OF MY LEAGUE!!!

How do people do this? It still feels incredibly awkward and I feel like the dogs and horses are just laughing at me, not to mention I go incredibly SLOW. At least there are only animals and not many people. That's another thing... the beautiful snow-covered fields are starting to thaw out and so is all the manure! I have to deal with all the "brown" before everything starts to turn green. Oh well. At least I'm still doing it, and it gives me time to think of overly-dramatic blog posts.

We finally have internet!!!

I vowed that we wouldn't get internet or TV until the house was mostly finished. Well... it's finished... enough. I still have a list of minor stuff like bolting in the dishwasher and re-caulking the molding I ripped off trying to fit the couch. Alas, I am now connected to the world and ready to waste some time!

I have been asked many times to show some finished pictures of the house… so here we go! Of course it will NEVER be finished as long as I stay petrified of putting holes in the freshly patched and painted walls.

As far as the outside of the house goes… I’m still waiting for that persistent 2 feet of snow to melt to see what we have. I can tell from what has melted already that I’ll need a lot of round-up

Let's Roll!

Problem: The baby weight is not coming off fast enough and spring is almost here
Solution: Cheap produce from Winco, “The Best Light Recipe” dinners, and a realistic running program

Problem: It’s the middle of winter and I have a baby
Solution: Take the baby with me running

Problem: It’s frigid in Midway and the wind blows on my baby’s face while facing forward in the baby jogger
Solution: Make the baby face backwards like in a car seat

Problem: Car seat won’t fit easily in the baby jogger
Solution: make it fit!!!

So about 10 minutes and 2 leather belts later… the seat was secure and off we went! This was 2 weeks ago and we’ve been successful ever since! We usually wait until the warmest part of the day. By warm, I mean hopefully above freezing. We pass horses, dogs and acres of beautiful snow-covered farm land. Our favorite trail is up to the cemetery and back. It’s a smooth road with a wide bike lane. Anna stays toasty warm and I get a hefty workout.

In other news, we’ve still been on the hunt for the perfect couch for our family room. We found one on KSL that was exactly what we’ve been looking for. We paid for it, hauled it to Midway, and realized it WOULD NOT turn the corner at the bottom of the stairs. We pushed and shoved, ripped off molding, scuffed up walls, dented corners, and finally gave up. Ripping out the wall from the bedroom wasn’t an option, neither was tearing out the window, so sorrowfully we put it back on the truck and I took it to Nora’s, who sold it to her neighbor. I guess we need to look at smaller sectionals or love seats. Is this a problem for anyone else? Anna sat and watched us the whole time, probably thinking, “Silly parents. Forget about a couch. Just get a couple of Bumbo seats!”